What will your legacy be?
Anything you create can live online forever
As I grow older, and I see my parents get older and plan their retirement, I often think about things like: How am I spending my time? What am I doing to maximize the present? What can I pass on to my children that they can learn from? What am I doing or putting out there that *maybe* will make a difference to someone?
About 5 years ago, I met in person for the first time, my former editor at Gadling (a travel blog I used to write for when I lived in Spain) — Grant Martin — for dinner, and we were discussing writing and our readers, and the power of the Internet, and he told me something that really stuck with me.
“Abha, our writing is our legacy. If our children or anyone Google us, they will see everything we have ever written, and they will read us, and maybe it will help them; maybe it will change their life.”
I’d never thought of my writing this way.
I’ve been writing online since 2005, and am proud to have a solid portfolio of writing under my belt. I’ve written about travel, about people making social impact, about businesses that strive to make social impact, about living in Spain, about learning a language, about being a working mum. As long as the Internet is alive, my work will stay alive on the web, in a time capsule of sorts.
This, strangely, gives me a sense of solace.
What’s more, I think that conversation subconsciously planted the seed in my mind of publishing a book, and last year I did.
When I was in Spain, I wrote a personal blog about quitting my job and moving there. I wrote vulnerably about the joys and pains of moving to a country I had never visited before and living alone in a foreign land. I planned to live there for 6 months; I stayed for 3 years. I became a full-time writer, and fluent in Spanish. It opened doors for me that I never new existed.
My move to Spain was the most courageous and transformational thing I’ve done and I really want my kids to know what their mum did when she was young and free (haha).
So, I packaged my 3-years of writing while in Spain, into a book that tells this story. It includes an introduction and a closing chapter on where I am today. I was amazed at how easy it was to self publish it, the feeling was truly empowering. You can check my book out here if you are interested
The power and potential of creating things on line
This brings me back to the web and the potential it offers, which will only increase with Web3. If you have access to a wifi connection, you can put anything out into the world and the web will keep it alive for you.
If you have something to share, it is easier today than it has ever been to share it. If it can help even one person, it makes it worth the effort.
For example: In 2005, I read a blog post on Transitions Abroad that introduced me to a writer who recommended me a book that I read over night; it was the tipping point I needed to have the courage to quit my job and move to Spain.
You never really know what’s going to happen until you put something out into the world.
Don’t underrate your life experiences or your skills; sharing them online could change someone’s life, and that my friends, is the power of the web.
Some food for thought there.
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