It’s strange how silence lingers after you stop writing.

Days stretch into months, and suddenly the words that once came easily now stumble, hiding behind hesitation. I have opened countless blank pages, typed a few sentences, and closed them again. Every time, the screen reflected not what I wanted to say, but what I’ve lost touch with. Yet here I am again, starting over. Not because I found the perfect moment, but because I finally learned that beginnings rarely wait for permission.

I started blogging in 2007. During my early days, I treated the blog like an online diary, full of silly, daily life—so loud! After a few years, I calmed down a little, posting only what I considered meaningful, and then came the hiatus. My page views dropped from thousands a day to less than twenty. At the lowest point, I even lost my domain because I forgot to renew it when I changed my credit card provider. Now, my old domain has been snatched by strangers and is being used for an illegal gambling site. Well, please consider this as a public announcement that ruthwijaya dot com hasn’t been mine since early 2024. My last post on the old blog was in March 2023, wishing a happy new year.

Partly, I blame work and social media for draining my focus. I started to only think of a few catchy words for a caption. I lost the ability to write longer pieces. Okay, I thought, maybe it’s better that I paused. Just enjoy the silence. No need to challenge myself to write sophisticatedly; I’m not in competition with myself. Just absorb life, enrich the experience, and start blooming again.

Randomly today I created a new blog to end my quiet era. I am starting to write again. Maybe the words will still be trembling and meaningless, but I’ll let them be.

I have accepted that life is imperfect, and not everything has to be meaningful. Let the words wander to find their own light. All I need to do is just keep writing without overthinking perfection.

Then, see you again very soon.