There's something very familiar feeling about sitting down in early October to work on a blog... apart from the obvious things, of course (re: obvious being that I literally do this every year). The crisp morning air, my fingers cold and frigid as they pluck at the keyboard, a steaming mug of coffee in front of me, and the leaves outside finally starting to tumble and scrape across the street as they finish drying out.
I love this feeling.
I love the feeling of being back in a comfort zone of reminiscence, where I can calmly look at the 12 months leading to today and contemplate what I wrote a year ago, and how it has changed now. Different from the 'new resolution' blogs, where I determine what my personal goal will be for the year, these blogs are reserved more for a retrospective of where I was then and where I am now on key points. Usually, it's for the better, though in the past, there were times it was for the worse. Luckily, today, it's the former.
So without further ado, let's explore it together in my favorite blog series that I get to revisit like an old friend, every October:
The Thirteen Year Anniversary for
Musings of a
Self-Proclaimed Author
Lucky (unlucky?) number 13; I can guarantee you that 13 years ago, I did not envision still writing blogs here. I probably figured I would putter out by the 10-year mark if I even made it that far, but I suppose that's the funny thing about determination, right? There's something to be said about forcing yourself to prove a point around what you say you are going to do and what you are actually going to do. Look at restoring_sean, for example.
A year ago, I wrote that I had created the @restoring_sean Instagram account.
That was it.
I had most (if not ALL) of the photos and videos collected for my first two houses: 750 files for the Manor, just under 700 files for the Ranch, and another 1,800 files for my current house, the Estate (now closing in on 3,500). But apart from having these photos and videos, there was nothing else. No plan on how to show them, no plan on what the format would be or how I would write about it or really any fuckin' clue on what I was doing. But I was going to do it. Because as I wrote a year ago today, I wanted to start generating content again.
In the beginning, it was easy for me to get confused about what this was all going to look like, and a big part of me wanted to keep moving backward to things I had done in the past that (somewhat) worked. Mainly the blogs (that some of you read, and I appreciate that SO much), but also 26 Golden Things, that tried and true fail-safe that I hold up on a pedestal despite it being a 12-year-old project that needs to just... diminish and fade into the west like Galadriel.
Then I decided to file for and own a business: restoring_sean, llc
Then I decided I'd make a YouTube channel: restoring_sean
Then I decided to purchase and develop a website: www.restoringsean.com
And wouldn't ya know it, everything started falling into place, and that elusive thing I'd been wanting to JUST FUCKING DO for so many years finally started happening: I was making content.
Unsure of how exactly to provide this content to the world, I finally sat myself down and started working on it (which is a novel concept, but one I had only ever daydreamed about rather than actually figured out). Instead of going chronologically through houses in the order things happened, I would go room by room, start to finish. That made sense. So I mapped out the entire first season and what dates the episodes would drop, and then I mapped the second season.
On March 26th, 2024, I launched the first video on YouTube, an introduction to restoring_sean, and then it was off to the races. Every Wednesday at 6 a.m., a new video would drop, each one showcasing the work that went into restoring my first house, the Manor, and then my second house, the ugly red-headed stepchild that it was, the Ranch. It was trial and error for the entire process.
- How can you make these videos engaging, funny, and informative?
- What sort of personality do you put forth...
- ...the customer service one you honed at Pottery Barn?
- ...the version your closest friends know?
- ...the one just acquaintances know?
- ...the one you showcase in the blogs, like the one you're reading now?
Well, it took me a couple of months, but really, it's all of them. It's just "me."
Each episode of the channel is a blog written in Microsoft Word and about 8 pages worth of dialogue. With 15 episodes in the first season and 11 in the second, those two houses were wrapped up in 26 episodes that focused solely on the past (hey, look, 26... 26 Golden Things... not an accident!). Like I said before, I was ready to move on from the past, and capping it at 26 episodes was the way to do it. I just had to.
Not that the past was holding me back, not by any means. I am a sentimental man, and I very much enjoy looking back at what brought me to where I am now. But at some point, you have to set down some of the THINGS from the past, solely as a means of freeing up your hands. Does that make sense? I hope so. With 26 episodes done, I was able to move forward this week with my first 'all-new, filmed this year with all new footage' episode: decorate the estate for halloween with me.
As of today, I have videos planned out through November of 2025. It's a daunting thing to look at that far in advance, though obviously in a helpful way as I can view things and alter the course waaaaay in advance.
But I'll tell ya what, it's a lot less daunting to think about all of what's to come when I can now look back and see everything I've already accomplished. Two houses have been shared in their entirety and have now been put to rest, proving the point that I could follow through on my word of posting weekly and not fucking it up. The YouTube channel has not exploded yet. I've not gone viral, I've not crossed 200 views on any of my videos, but that's also just... okay. Much like with my books and these blogs (and with just about everything else in my life), it's an exploration of my own creativity that I am curious about and that I want to execute. Eventually, it becomes ingrained in who I am (like 13 years of writing blogs), and I just keep doing it. Do I want the channel to detonate and get monetized? Of course I do; that would be an awesome source of passive income for the work I've done and another incentive to continue doing it. But it's not paramount to me finishing what I started, and because it is not paramount or a deal breaker, I will just keep sharing and generating this content. If for nothing else, as something to look back on in the future and smile.
One thing does need to be mentioned, however, and it is how last year I discussed no longer having the "bandwidth" to do things and then trying to stick to my guns on choices I make. I... dunno what to say about that.
Most of this last year was, in a word, overwhelming.
In classic "me" fashion I bit off WAY more than I could chew and then kept on biting like some annoying fuckin' dog going for your ankles. Taking on too much pays off when it's done, I can say that at least, and I feel rewarded by looking back at what I achieved. But in the moment... it's hard... and ultimately, too much is just "too much," and I don't know how to curb that. I will say, in the last month, I have started setting limits on things.
I've set limits on when I am reachable for items related to work, namely by putting a filter on my phone that prevents me from seeing messages after "work" hours.
I've set limits on friends when my own mental health is not in a state where I can handle the minutae of their own issues/struggles/problems, namely telling people they need to ask me if they can trauma dump before just doing so.
I've also become better at prioritizing the things in my life that need to be done NOW, versus the things that can wait, through the power of adderall and reminders on my phone.
I feel like this is still going to be the goal for the next year though, y'know? Maintaining limits and setting expectations for people that I can comfortably live up to, and not shit-my-pants-panic that I might drop the ball because I'm doing too much. I saw this great post on Instagram yesterday that really spoke to me, and I think is something I will make my mantra for the 12 months leading up to the 14 year anniversary blog:
"Say goodbye to urgency culture. You don't need to reply to that message now. Your email can wait. You don't have to live with anxiety because of the weird expectations of others. let yourself be human instead of forcing yourself to be a machine. your heart, nervous system, and adrenal glands will thank you" - Cory Allen
And so with that, I will wrap this up. Things are going well in my life now that the summer is over and fall has arrived. So much of what was up in the air this summer (if not this past year) has now been settled and put to bed, much of it not to be woken again. I'm very comfortable with that because it allows me to start looking forward again to what things can come next. And I think there are some very exciting things.
Ciao for now (c:
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