Newsletter | Life Stories | Personal
Autistic Widower’s Newsletter #18
Welcome to my last newsletter — at least for a while.
Contents
- Articles
- Personal Notes
1. Articles
How Being Widowed Is Different to Being Divorced
It sounds obvious, but few people really understand
People who mean well can sometimes say things that come across as a bit thoughtless. One example is when people compare being widowed to being divorced.
When I wrote this, I tried not to dismiss what it must feel like to be divorced. But I also tried to point out some of the differences.
I wrote it in the form of an imaginary conversation. At times, what I was writing felt about as realistic as a washing powder advert. But I continued with it, and hope it comes across as intended.
I spent so long on this relatively short article that I felt like I was out of time when it came to selecting an image. So I created something very simple and crude.
My Only Viral Article So Far Was in My Dreams
Despite millions of reads, it only made around $5
This article might sound contrived. But it was based on a dream I had. Perhaps I wasn’t quite back to normal when I wrote it, after having Covid recently.
I ended up using a photo from Unsplash for this one — it’s a long time since I used an image that wasn’t my own.
Thinking About My Mum
14 years without her
June is an emotionally challenging month for me.
I lost my wife in June 2013, and I lost my mum in June 2008.
I wrote this article very quickly and did minimal editing on it.
That’s partly because I wanted to express what I was thinking and feeling.
It’s also partly because I felt drained and did not have the energy to do anything else — but I still wanted to put something out there about it.
The image is from my mum and dad’s old photo collection.
2. Personal Notes
Last Newsletter
This will be the last newsletter I publish for the foreseeable future.
Perhaps it’s because I got Covid recently. But I feel like I’m bordering on burnout and something needs to change.
I’m a slow writer, so the few articles I publish take me a lot longer to write than most people would expect.
(Maybe that means writing isn’t something I should be doing — but I do enjoy it.)
June was the first month on Medium where my statistics went into reverse.
Given that I was only seeing gentle growth at the best of times, I can no longer justify spending as many hours writing here. And this weekly newsletter seemed like the best thing to cut.
From now on, I will:
- Publish fewer articles
- Email my subscribers every time I publish
(Previously, the newsletter was the only article that I emailed about; I didn’t like to feel I was spamming people.)
Cars and Decision Making
I’ve finally bought a car. Like most big decisions, I started second-guessing myself just a few hours later.
The car purchase certainly didn’t go smoothly. And there are still some minor niggles with it, which I hope to write about over the coming weeks.
I’m trying to push myself to go through with more big decisions. It’s hard, but I know it has to be done.
I still have large items of furniture in my garage that belonged to my late parents. But I want to store my car in there now.
It will take many weeks and be emotionally draining. But I know it’s time to focus on moving forward, rather than looking back all the time.
Best wishes, and thank you for reading.
Thank you for reading!
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