As 2024 Rolls On
This piece was originally shared on Medium at the year’s onset.
Keep making progress.
On the surface, there is no difference between the last day of 202 and the first day of 2024.
Time never ceases. We are the ones passing by. Literally.
This is my first story of 2024. As I write, Brandon Heath’s song. It’s Good to Be Alive came up first.
… Then right here, right now
This is the song I'm singing out
I wanna live like there's no tomorrow
Love like I'm on borrowed time
It's good to be alive
I won’t take it for granted
I won’t waste another second
All I want is to give you
A life well lived, to say “thank you”Songwriters: Brandon Heath / Jason Gray / Jason Ingram © Spirit Music Group, Capitol Christian Music Group
I became a Medium pro in 2020, and as is common with the experience of other Medium writers and readers, this platform has undergone several transformations.
Often, transformations, both technological and others, arise that make us ponder over the life we were living before.
In 1997, I bought a copy of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace at a grand cost of 1 pound while on an excursion to Edinburgh Castle, Scotland.
War and Peace gathered dust on my shelf for six years before I started reading it in 2003. Most of my reading time was while I was on the job in the forest and the mangrove swamps of Nigeria's Niger Delta.
No, I wasn't lopping about that massive volume under the watchful eyes of my supervisor. I read the electronic version of War and Peace via my Mobipocket e-reader app on my first smartphone - Sony Ericsson P800. I also read Anna Karenina on that device.
Mobipocket gave access to many free ebooks. And many of those out of reach were freely available on Project Gutenberg's website.
Since then, I've never turned back on ebooks. Even when I have hard copy editions of my favorite books, I still prefer reading the e-versions.
In 2020, I started writing on Medium. With the support of many mentors and editors, I made some progress. Ever since, I've written over 180 stories. My writing interests include book reviews and sharing insights from the books I read. I also touch on leadership, society, Christianity, and events in my country, Nigeria.
Of course, this one-way trip called life isn’t just about reading.
Tell us your story.
Not about how many books you've read.
Neither is it about the number of books or stories you've written.
It's all about how you are going to live out the outstanding days left in this brief life of yours. How many lives you’re going to touch as you travel along?
On my Notion Dashboard, I showed my son my life tracker widget. "Son, you see this widget number?" It represents the percentage of my projected lifespan that is gone.
And if I’m lucky to live the rest of my days out in health, and spared all the violence around me, I have about one-quarter left of my projected life expectancy.
Believe me, what I have left is more than enough.
In 2023, I wrote a few dozens of Medium stories.
Here are my favorite reads along with some reviews.
Os Guinness — Magna Carta of Humanity
Sherry Sontag — Blind Man’s Bluff
Os Guinness — The Gravedigger File — Letters on the Subversion of the Church
Here is my completed 2023 reading list — Page Turners and Beloved Classics of 2023
When it comes to online writing, the reader is king. The more you can grab and retain his or her attention, the more likely you are to succeed. One way I learned how to write on Medium is by writing for myself first. If what I authored is worth my reread, then it is probably good enough.
You only live twice, once when you were born and the other when you see death in the face.
~ Ian Fleming James Bond
How to Step Out of Your Brain in 2024
Practice what you read. Make out time to practice and use some of the transformative insights from all the fiction and nonfiction you read in 2023 and before.
Life is not about how much you read or write. People want to know how much you care than about how much you read or write.
Many of life's most beautiful, treasured experiences are to be found in life's little things. Don’t wait too late to discover you’ve only existed all your life, never having made time to live.
Letting those nagging troubles be (for a while) may be your first step to finding the solution you need. At times what you need most is to take your mind off your problems to come back to them later. The time or night spent away from those issues often gives you new perspectives and the mind-shift that will more adequately prepare you to tackle them.
Let’s reflect on life and the stories we read and write on Medium.
Does sunset sometimes look like the sun is coming up?
Do you know what a faithful love is like?
You're crying; you say you've burned yourself.
But can you think of anyone who's not
hazy with smoke?
~~~ Rumi (1207 - 1273)
Page Turners and Beloved Classics of 2023
And now, a newsletter to trumpet them all.
“I tell you, sir, this is the end of the world. The students never were so riotous before; it’s the cursed inventions of the age that are ruining us all, — artillery, bombards, serpentines, and particularly printing, that other German pestilence. No more manuscripts, no more books! Printing is death to bookselling. The end of the world is at hand.”
©Victor Hugo ~ The Hunchback of Notre Dame
I’m a lifelong lover of books.
But reading so many books within so little time can easily get into any bibliophile’s head.
If my assertion strikes a chord within you, you’re in good company.
My “easily get into your head” is a compliment and a wake-up-call. A compliment because the vast majority of people never read through a single book, cover-to-cover, in one full year. A wake-up-call because it’s so easy to make reading and end.
In an interesting article, Wordsrated shared insights and poll findings.
The average American reads 12.6 books per year, including the books they started reading but haven’t necessarily completed.
If we count only fully-read books, the average American adult reads just over 5 books per year.
Digging further, New York Post reported that, “Overall, the average person reads eight books a month, totalling almost 100 books a year.”
The outliers in all these statistics are the chief executives of companies and corporations. On average, your company’s topmost “Top Gunner” reads a whopping 60 books per year!
Meaning what?
I’ve not even started reading.
Do I intend to start now?
No. At least not in the way you think.
5 compelling reasons to read more in 2024.
Reading keeps your brain active. Among other things, reading helps reduce the likelihood of age-related cognitive decline.
Reading keeps you far from the MAD (Mutually Assured Distractions) crowd. As flooded as our times are with MAD gadgets, reading helps maintain your focus better. Instead of the infodemic affliction of social media, apps, games, etc. focused reading broadens and deepens your knowledge.
As you read more, your vocabulary increases and you get better at communicating your ideas or expressing yourself before others.
Reading printed books helps lure you to sleep at night (and at any time). Printed books are the best if you prefer to read at night. E-books are ever within our reach via our smartphones, Kindles, and e-book reading apps. To protect your eyes, always read your ebooks in dark screen mode and with external light sources switched on.
Reading can enhance your capacity for empathy, personal reflection, and meditation. In the long run, your mental health and general outlook improve. With all these benefits, the odds of a longer lifespan are in your favor.
Join me and let’s read more in 2024.
5 reasons why reading less might be a plus in 2024
As writers, we read prodigious volumes of content every year. Our livelihood depends on getting readers’ attention — reading and interacting with us and our content.
Therefore, it may appear self-defeating to read my advocating for fewer but more meaningful reading.
With time and as I advance in years, I’ve come to realize that reading only matters that much up to a point. There comes a limit where compulsively consuming more content and more books offer marginal to zero benefits.
By all means, read. Read more frequently and consistently. But instead of being 52 books wide and a page thin in life applications and living, here is how and why I’ll be reading less but better in 2024.
Counterintuitively, reading less may even get you to read better. I’ve been keeping records about the booksI read for over 10 years. I even have hand-written notes on some books I read over 30 years ago — before I landed my first smartphone and ebook app, and Microsoft OneNote.
Millions of books are published every year. Millions were published before you knew how to read the alphabet. In this one brief life of yours, even if you have a thousand lifetimes to re-live it, you can never exhaust a cupful of water from this ever-expanding ocean of knowledge.
It is impossible to know or recall everything you will ever read. Rather, focus on reading less, but better. Your emphasis must never be on consuming more and more content. Focus more on what is most practical for your present needs. And you’ll be better for it.
Compulsive reading and excessively consuming too much content could be counterproductive. By all means, I encourage you to read more, but your focus must be on reading fewer but getting better through what you read.
Consuming less is a must if you are to go further towards your writing targets. As a writer, compulsive reading will only make you a better reader while your writing goals keep on lagging.
This 2024 I’m already out on good footing. But whether I read more or less, one thing I’m certain of is I’ll be following my reading prescription.
Not just reading less, but reading better and living more.
In 2024, compulsively reading more is not on my agenda anymore.
However, I hope to write more and better this 2024.
I challenge you to do the same thing.
Muse4Life: A Manifesto — Read Less, Live More
When I became a Medium Pro in 2023, I never knew I could flash-pan more than a few dozen articles. Neither did I know the difference between a publication and a newsletter.
Seriously.
But ever since, the number of my articles are edging closer to 200. I can not thank the editors and better writers who have been reading and mentoring me on my writing adventure.
My appreciation also goes to my growing list of fellow readers, writers, and subscribers. Surely, without you, I’ll be non-existent on this planet of writers — Medium.
Shortly after I became a Medium pro in 2020, I created the publication — Muse2Muse.
Muse2Muse stories major on
Sharing insights on the books we read and wrote
Technology, leadership, social impacts, and faith interface.
My country Nigeria as I live and experience it.
Muse2Muse also welcomes other topics and is open to other writers.
Muse4Life is the newsletter accompanying the Muse2Muse publication.
Bi weekly, I’ll be sending updates on my latest writings. I’ll also be taking a retro trip to unique stories from my reading lists. Some of these stories are among those that attracted us to the Medium platform when we started.
You are one of the many writers that have inspired and motivated me here.
Don’t be surprised, because some of your stories are already being featured on my Medium reading lists.
Our goal is to showcase these stories, yours and mine, and the inspiring Medium online writing platform to the larger world.
I invite you to write for Muse2Muse, subscribe to Muse4Life newsletter, and share this story with your contacts.
Indicate your interest by commenting and maxing out your claps for this story.
Thank you.