I’m Listening to an Album a Day in 2023… and Writing About It 🤞🏾

Recently, I’ve realized that I have been my own biggest bully

Hello. I’m just going to say it already. I stopped writing. I stopped doing a lot of things. 2022 started as the worst year of my life. I consumed myself in complete and utter directionlessness. I had never felt more alone and unable in my life. I struggled to maintain steady communication with my friends this year. I’ve struggled with this for years truthfully. I spent way too much time by myself this year. I attached myself to my self-doubt and regretted everything I’ve and didn’t do the last three years. Recently, I’ve realized that I have been my own biggest bully. Of course, I’ve been quite a recluse, but the way I perceived myself has kept me in the same spot in life. I also spent too much damn time on the hellsite known as Twitter.

By the end of 2022, I have been able to acknowledge my faults healthily. I never felt this good about the future since 2019. I’m surrounded by more love and patience than I can ask for. I am thankful for what I’ve overcome this year and what I’ve learned. This is the most adult I felt ever. I want to start the next year by being more accountable and having actual expectations of myself. I want to set goals, plans, and budgets. 2023 is the year of self-respect and presence. I’m sick of people asking me where I’ve been.

Abandonment issues aside, I’ve tasked myself with listening to an album a day and writing about it. I got excited about music again recently simply by watching and reading reviews by accredited professionals and self-righteous amateurs. In particular, I’ve been studying how music consumption and opinion have developed over the past five years. Teenagers are still all over the place telling people what is complete shit and what is the second coming of Christ. Adults are still scouring for sounds that remind them of their youth. Not much has changed at all. If doing this “research” I’ve noticed that genuinely missed music discussion and the insight it can produce. This all started when I watched Brad Taste in Music, a YouTube channel where a mid-20s man reacts to music live. I admired the talking points his community brought to the table. That man listens to anything no matter how trashy or heavenly it is.

Anyways, I’ll be using a website called theshfl.com to randomize what I listen to every day in 2023. Then, I will produce a weekly article about what I listened to that particular week. It will start this Sunday. I will not limit myself to any genre and might do a particular genre a day. I could create a rotation of niche genres to make things more interesting. There will be no word limit or quota for any album. What I have to say is what I have to say.

Let’s do it.