This. Is. Blogging!

I have 299 subscribers. One?shy of 300.

It's?a number that taunts me every time I open up my dashboard. Like that last biscuit in the tin (Hobnob, if?you're?asking). The one you?don't?need but now you?can't?stop thinking about. One more. Just one. A lovely round 300. A milestone.

But this?isn't?about that. It was never about that.

If it were,?I’d?have closed the laptop and started perfecting my banana bread months ago because this?isn't?a numbers game.?There's?no algorithmic cavalry riding to my rescue.?There's?no ticker tape parade waiting at Subscriber 500. And?I’m?not frantically fending off a horde of creatives, waving retainers like olive branches. Still waiting on that.

This?is about the fight.

My fight.

The one?I'm?in with myself every time I sit down and try to scrape something worthwhile from the lump of granite between my ears. The?one where the enemy is inertia, self-doubt, and the easy choice to do nothing.

Writing this blog?isn't?about the people who read it (though?I'm?grateful you do).?It's?about?why?I write it.

I write it to learn.?To wrestle ideas onto the page.?To sharpen the edge of what I think I know and discover what I?don't.

And?that's?where the Spartans come in.

Because whether?it's?299 or 300 or just me standing on the hill, shouting into the wind, I am here for the fight.

The Spartans didn’t stand at Thermopylae counting heads. They?didn't?hang around in the barracks polishing their helmets and waiting for perfect conditions. They stood their ground, shoulder to shoulder, shields up, swords drawn, because?that's?what they did. That was the job. The work. The?purpose.

And if?you're?lucky enough to have 299 people show up for you, you?don't?get to complain about the one who?didn't. You stand—face to the wind—shield in one hand, the truth in the other.

So, 299 it is.

And maybe 300 tomorrow. Or next week. Maybe never. But?that's?not why?I'm?here.

I'm?here because this is how I get better.

This?is how I think.

This?is how I make sense of things that?don't?make sense yet.

This?is how I fight the good fight, even when?I'm?outnumbered?by apathy, anxiety, and the endless distraction of a world built to make you forget what you cared about in the first place.

And every time I hit publish,?I'm?driving my spear into the fresh, unbroken dirt and saying,?"Not today."

Not today will I give in to silence.

Not today will I wait for perfect.

Not today will I let the fear of?what people think?stop me from figuring out what?I?think.

This?isn't?a newsletter.?It's?not SEO-friendly, lead-generating, CTA-driven, funnel-feeding fluff.

This.?Is.?The Bob Tree!

To my 299, thank you. For reading, for being here, for standing in the phalanx. And if?you're?number 300? Great.?We've got room on the line. Grab a shield.