Prefer to watch instead? The video version of this reflection is available at the bottom of the page.
I never cared, or honestly even knew anything about, SEO, Google Analytics, or bounce rate.
That just wasn’t part of why I started this.
Awakening With Don began as a place to share what felt true. That’s really it. Just trying to put words around what I was living and learning and unlearning.
And somewhere along the way, I noticed something shifting.
I started paying attention to things I never used to think about. Traffic. Retention. What works. What doesn’t. Whether I’m doing enough with this. Whether I should be a little sharper, a little more polished, a little more intentional about how it all comes across.
And none of that is necessarily bad. I do care about the work. I want it to reach people. I’m grateful that it is. But I can also feel how quickly that kind of attention can start to change the feel of something.
What started as sharing can slowly begin to feel like something I need to manage well.
I’ve been noticing that in small ways. Re-recording something not because the reflection is off, but because I think I look too serious. Wondering if the setting is getting repetitive. Thinking a little more about how something will land than whether it actually feels true.
Nothing dramatic. Just a slight tightening.
And I’ve seen that pattern in other parts of life too.
I’ve touched on this before in my reflection, Letting It Be Seen, where I noticed how easily something that begins as care can slowly become protection.
Something begins as real, and over time it quietly becomes something I’m trying to make work. Trying to get right. Trying to shape. Trying to make sure it becomes something.
I don’t think the answer is to stop caring. I do care. This matters to me. I just don’t want the caring to turn into something that pulls me away from what made it feel real in the first place.
Because if I’m honest, what people seem to connect with most is not when I’m trying to be clever or polished. It’s when I’m just telling the truth.
So I’ve been sitting with a different question lately.
Not whether something is good enough to grow.
But whether it’s honest enough to share.
That feels like a better place for me to start. Something steadier.
Because the more I try to force something to grow, the more I can feel myself drifting away from the thing that gave it life in the first place.
So for now, the practice feels pretty simple.
Just keep coming back to what’s real.
Say what feels true.
Let it be a little imperfect.
And trust that whatever grows from that… will.
Prefer to watch instead? YouTube link here
