For over two years now, I’ve been writing news flashes. At first weekly, but after 5 weeks that changed to a monthly news flash. I wanted to do something against the negativity that comes with mainstream news, which makes a lot of people feel powerless. But after two years I’ve re-evaluated and I have decided to quit, just before 2023 starts. I’m quitting the monthly news flashes. In this final post of the series I want to explain why.
Positive energy
As I said, I started the monthly news flashes to do something about the negativity that comes with following the standard news. If you watch the news in the morning, which a lot of people do in The Netherlands, it makes you feel bad for the rest of the day. That news has to be shocking and sensational, which makes it very negative. If you watch the standard news every day you think the world is a sucky place. However, science shows that the world is actually getter a happier place for humans every day. Things are improving every generation.
I wanted to do something against that negativity with my news flashes. Show the good news, but also a tiny bit of negative news with a personal tip attached to it. This way, you don’t feel powerless. I want to empower people. Individuals can make the world a better place every day!
Not the right solution
But here comes the first reason why I’m quitting the monthly news flashes: this blog is not the right medium nor solution. Let’s first talk about the solution. I’ve said it before, but I think we should pay for journalism. I’m not going to repeat that entire post now, but I think that if we’d all pay for journalism we’d have better news. And better news means structural, in-depth news. Not a small article about a robbery next door, but a long article about the structural crime numbers and what the most effective ways are to prevent robberies. This is just an example, but we can do this with all subjects. This is why I am a member of both OneWorld and De Correspondent, but I never watch the news on tv or on free news sites like nu.nl.
So, structural changes in journalism are needed. Me promoting mostly positive news from existing media on this blog is not going to change anything structurally. We need to address the core of journalism, we need to pay for it. That’s one part of why I’m quitting the monthly news flashes.
Why my blog exists
Then something else. I’ve thought many times about what I want with this blog. Why does it exist in the first place? Two reasons. 1. I want to record my personal growth. I do this for myself, because I enjoy seeing where I came from and how far I’ve come. How my vision has changed over the years and how my knowledge has expanded. I love reading some old posts of mine. But I also want to record this personal growth for future generations. My kids, or maybe even grandkids? I would find it pretty amazing if my ancestors had blogs, so I could read about their lives, values and struggles. The internet did not exist back then, so I am the first generation to be able to record my life this way. Maybe this blog will be of value even after I die.
Then the second reason why I created this blog (this is actually the more important one haha): I want this blog to be a knowledge base. An accessible place were you can find information about an eco-positive lifestyle. Yes, I want to be reliable source on this subject. A knowledge base people go to when they want to find something about eco-positive living, whether that’s how to find secondhand fashion or what the best vegan meat-replacement are.
Timeless
And with that, I want this blog to be as timeless as possible. Of course that’s not 100% possible, as I just said that I want it to be a record of my life. But when it comes to most posts, I want them to be as timeless as possible. In 10 years I still want people to read how to vegan and why food cooperations are the ideal food system. Now back to the monthly news flashes. These were not timeless at all. Yes, they gave a positive feeling, but when you read those posts a few months later it was not relevant anymore, as they were based on mainstream news. That’s why these monthly flashes do not fit within this blog anymore.
Not the right medium
So that’s why this blog is not the right medium for positive news flashes. But that does not mean I will stop sharing positive news or trends all together. I am active on Instagram, which is actually the only social medium I actively use. Just like on this blog, I try to keep a positive attitude there too, because I believe that’s how we achieve change. Therefore, I will still share positive news on Instagram. This blog was just never the right medium.
Time
The reason why I started to think about this subject in the first place is my new full-time job. I started working 32 hours a week, so my free time has drastically declined. That’s okay, since I love my job and really believe it makes the world a better place. However, it does make me picky about my free time, since I have less of it. I want to do the things I do very intentional. And I want them to make a difference. As I just described, the monthly news flashes don’t serve the end goal anymore. Then it’s time to quit them.
No regrets
That does not mean I regret writing the monthly news flashes for the past two years. The contrary it true! I will keep them on this blog (I rarely delete anything on here), since they’re part of my personal journey. In 2020 I had the idea for them and I was free enough to act on that idea. That’s great! Now I feel like I’ve evolved again and my view has changed.
Anyway, that’s why I’m quitting the monthly news flashes. I will obviously continue posting my ‘regular’ posts that are published every Monday! See you there.
Yours sincerely,
Romee