Returning to Medium After a Year-Long Hiatus
I haven’t posted on Medium since July of 2022 and I have to admit, I feel a bit rusty! Not rusty in the writing sense, but rusty in the sense of — what the heck is Medium even about anymore?
Why I Left Medium a Year Ago
When I left, there were a lot of changes happening. Publications were closing. Curation was becoming less and less effective. There were new rules regarding how and when you could start earning your first dollar on Medium. It felt like all the hours I had spent learning the platform were becoming futile. And my obsession with gaining success and traction as a writer was, to put it bluntly, destroying my mental health.
And so, I took a one-year hiatus. Although, when I canceled my membership and signed out of the platform, I didn’t plan on returning. Fast-forward a year and two months later, and here I am.
Why I’m Returning to Medium
I’m returning for a couple of reasons. One, I miss writing. Actually, let me clarify that. I miss writing for the sheer fun of it. When I left Medium, I was so wrapped up in trying to figure out what type of content would perform best on the platform, I stopped enjoying the act of writing. I spent days on a single article because I was convinced the more time it took to write, the more likely someone would want to read it.
And yet, still to this day, my most popular article on Medium is the silliest piece I’ve ever written.
Number two, I miss the Medium community and I can’t help but feel like I took it for granted. This week I started reading some of my old work, and I couldn’t help but scroll through some of the responses I received. There were so many poignant, thoughtful, grateful responses from all types of people and writers that I never would have crossed paths with if it wasn’t for Medium. And most of all, I miss reading YOUR WORK.
My Intention Moving Forward on Medium
I was unemployed when I started writing on Medium in 2020. Since then, I began a freelancing career in web and graphic design. While freelancing is a wonderful…
