Where's the Sign?
Progress, Milestones, and Digital Building
📍Manila, Philippines
This week, I went through my to-do list and removed everything I'd already completed. A feeling of satisfaction filled me, and suddenly I realized I had progressed several steps in my process.
It's funny how everything connects. My actions blend into each other, and I constantly find myself saying, "Oh! I already have that!" – as if I created solutions to problems arising now, a month ago, without knowing I'd need them.
In my head, I expected some imaginary sign declaring "You've reached the next level!" like in a good video game. But life doesn't work that way, and the stages overlap. Only when looking back can you truly see the path you've traveled.
I still try to identify these moments of progress because I need to find my bearings. Or rather, to follow my plan so I don't get lost. Sometimes I suddenly find myself working on the new newsletter and tell myself, "Look, I'm already at the newsletter stage, that's a milestone." But it's not a linear path. I continue working on previous stages simultaneously, and sometimes even go backward – but only to move forward in a better way.
Maybe I expect the world to pause for a moment, to have some brief intermission between stages. But this mixing, perhaps precisely because everything connects, is what makes the process so enjoyable.
During my "caving month" in Manila, there were days I thought I wasn't making progress. That I still had nothing tangible in hand, just a dream. But that was so wrong. Every small step I took, every millimeter of progress, accumulated into a result that, after a month, I saw before my eyes – and I was excited. Suddenly, it transformed into "I can't believe I built this in a month!"
I went above and beyond when I initially tried to build my own website. All the dealings with website builders, all the automations I created... and in the end, I didn't use any of those things to set up my Substack.
What did I do instead? I took my old stories, sorted them, added opening and closing paragraphs, and added images. I built the flagship pages (Welcome, Who Am I, Time Travel, and Journey Compass). I created a page for each category, pages for the main countries, and links between posts for easy navigation. I replaced countless phrasings to make everything sound exactly as I wanted, conveying the right message. And I created all of these twice – once in Hebrew and once in English.
And only now, at this moment, as I write this list that began with "just...", do I understand what I accomplished in a whole month. How could I possibly have thought I wasn't making progress? Now it's turned into "I can't believe I created all this in a month!"
Perhaps that's what matters in the end - not the progress itself, but the ability to pause for a moment and see it. To identify all the small steps that accumulated along the way. It's like looking at pictures from my journey - each one by itself is a small moment, but together they tell a complete story. I've realized that part of the journey is to stop occasionally, sit on a bench at the side of the road, and look at how far I've come. Because sometimes, from constantly moving forward, we forget to look back and appreciate the distance we've already traveled.
Your support helps me keep experiencing new worlds and sharing them with you through my words. Sometimes, a single cup of coffee can make a difference.
Thank you for being part of this journey.
Who Am I? | The Journey Through Time | The Daily Journey