My Substack Midlife Crisis

I'm trading Webflow tutorials for M&S potato runs and fighting bees in my backyard.

What’s up? It’s been a while! An absolute f**king age, actually, since I last made the words in my head form some kind of structured sentences on my Substack.

You probably don’t even remember signing up for this. I barely remember setting it up, so you’ve got no chance.

Things have changed in my life since I last posted anything on here. A year and a half ago, when I posted this article, I was a freelance Webflow developer making YouTube videos and feeling enthused by the growth of AI.

Not long after, though, things changed when I was offered a ‘real job’ at a marketing agency. With little free time to make videos or write, and spending so much of my time glued to my laptop, all of this got pushed aside.

However, spending so much time attached to a screen and talking to Claude like it’s my bestie has given me a new appreciation for things away from a computer. Family, walking, being outdoors, listening to vinyl, and exploring the history of the city I’ve lived in all my life.

This week, I’ve had some time off so I can finally find the time to do the things I enjoy. As I write this, it’s 5:30 am and I’m sitting in my backyard, basked in 22ºC sunshine with a coffee. It’s not as rosy as it sounds, though. My screen is covered in the mucus flying out of my face because I’ve been sneezing for the last 15 minutes - the pollen level is through the roof. And when I do stop sneezing momentarily and try to take a swig of coffee, a bee decides it’s going to try to collect all of the pollen from my nose.

If my neighbours could see me now - with my puffy red eyes, snot doing bungee jumps out of either nostril at random, all while flailing my arms around like a wacky-waving-inflatable-arm-flailing-tube-man trying to swat away bees hell -bent on making me spill my coffee - they would think, “What the f**k are we living next door to?”

Anyway, back on topic. I’ve really enjoyed the lack of screen time and doing mundane stuff. Stuff I used to be able to do. Right after I finish writing this, I’m going to put the bins out, but this time I might take a little extra time to glare at the cat that keeps shitting in our plants.

I’ve walked endless miles and spent time watching YouTube videos that I actually enjoy, rather than ones that relate to Webflow, AI, or After Effects. Later, my wife, the children, and I will be driving from south Liverpool to north just to buy potatoes from our favourite M&S. I know the traffic will be a nightmare, but I’m beside myself with excitement.

This time away from work has made me reassess my Substack. I enjoy writing, but I’ve fallen out of love with writing about tech or tutorials. Why would I want to spend my spare time writing about what I’m doing all week?

I have countless half-written draft articles in my dashboard that will never see the light of day because I’m not remotely interested in them. And you can tell.

So, they will be getting deleted, and this whole Substack will be changing to focus more on the random things that I enjoy or want to write about.

Hope you stick with me for the ride.

✌️ Carl