The post I nearly didn’t send

(it marked a huge change)

I re-read the article until I forgot why I wrote it in the first place.

Was I really going through with publishing this?

It was undoubtedly a bold view.

For the first time, my heart raced because of something I’d written.

I knew some people would read this and be angry.

I knew I’d likely attract troll comments.

I knew many would unfollow me. Nice people, too.

But, with a shaking finger, I pressed ‘send’.

This moment marked the start of a seven-month run of writing daily, and often rather provocative, Twitter threads.

At the start of 2021, I had 200 Twitter followers.

By November, I had close to 95,000 — all thanks to this level of consistency combined with leaning into the danger zone.

That was the year I chose to live at my edges.

To say what I knew was true, but that I knew many would dislike.

That year was also a period of aliveness.

Not happiness.

Not malaise.

Not sadness.