This is the 100th edition of The Anxious Morning. I’ve now written 100 essays on anxiety and recovery - about 35,000 words worth according to the Ulysses app - in the span of about 4.5 months. By comparison, Seven Percent Slower is about 32,000 words. The majority of anxiety books on the market that you may be aware of are about the same length. Of course The Anxious Truth is twice that size, but that’s an anomaly.
I write it. I speak it, then I turn it into an audiogram so that people can consume the content via email, with their ears, and even with their eyes via YouTube. It takes me about 30 minutes to write each of these editions, then another few hours per week to convert them into podcast episodes and YouTube posts. Total investment is maybe 5-6 hours per week. Over the course of 2022 that will be about 300 hours of my time.
What do I do now with The Anxious Morning? Am I getting the most out of those 300 hours? Are you getting the most out of my 300 hours?
I always wanted to do a little morning mental health show of some kind. At the moment, this is it in some form. Probably the first form. But I will admit that while I can easily write another 150 of these to fill the rest of 2022, I’m thinking about new directions. How else I can convey this information without making you guys scroll endlessly through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I’m also thinking about a more conversational approach to these essays.
Maybe in the second half of the year these will take the form of short videos where I can just fire up a camera and talk to you for a few minutes every morning. If that does happen, they will be very informal. This can’t become a video editing project because that can take quite some time, so if I go down that road I will essentially sit at my desk, or on my deck, or in my living room, fire up the phone, and go. What you see is what you get, but that’s not so new for me anyway.
I’d love to have more conversation around these topics. I’d love you guys to be able to pop in and ask questions. The comments section on Substack and YouTube are OK, but it’s not exactly what I was imagining. I think maybe I’m picturing a bit of a talk radio format more than anything else. You guys really steer this ship because all the topics come from you, so I would love to have you participate more actively in some way.
Anyway, this is what goes through my head after creating 100 of these. I’d love to know what you think about The Anxious Morning. It is useful? Is getting an email every morning annoying? Do you prefer the audio or video formats? What can we turn this into now that there are almost 5000 of us involved in this project?
Drop me a comment. In the comments section. On Substack or YouTube, I guess. That’s the best we got now, so let’s use it, and tell me what you think.
I’m listening.
“I’m listening.” - Frasier Crane
Every Friday I’ll share one of my favorite quotes. They’ll often have direct application in recovery, but sometimes they’re just generally funny, inspiring, or thought-provoking. I hope you enjoy them.
100. A Quick Reflection On 100 Editions Of The Anxious Morning