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André Torgal

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Writing doesn’t have to be hard

Woah, it’s been so long. How did that happen?

Let’s quickly catch up and take it from here.

It seems like I took another one of those long breaks from blogging.

But I have been craving to come back to this.

What I’ve been up to

Let’s start with languages: they have been a big part of this journey and I have just surpassed the 400+ day streak on Duolingo 🤯.

The daily Ukrainian, Arabic and/or German practice is paying off! It’s hard to put into words how rewarding it feels to see someone’s eyes go wide when I say, “It was a pleasure to meet you. I hope you have a safe flight home” — in their language 🤣.

Music has been another cornerstone. Almost every day, I’ve practiced paradiddles and stick control at home. I have learned over 300 songs, spent endless hours in the studio improving them. That feeling of finally nailing a drum part that once felt impossible? Pure magic.

Then there’s tennis. A sport that’s teaching me patience and perseverance. I can finally hit a solid (OH) backhand drive and my first serve is getting consistent. I dream of finally beating that friend. It’s been like 30 years since we first played. I never took a set from him.

Oh! It’s nice to have “hobbies”

Someone might say.

But they miss the point, entirely.

Busy growing old

I see people getting old and some aging better than others. I noticed that the ones that seem to be aging faster have a couple of things in common: they stopped learning new things and they’re no longer showing curiosity about things that are new or strange to them.

We can’t stop growing old, of course. But I am hoping that the aging process is not that linear and that we have some leverage over at least a few parameters. Since I learned that cardio is trainable I ditched that old idea of me

I love cycling but my cardio limits my ability to climb 😫.

I took it as a challenge to start training. And even if I didn’t believe from day one that it work at all, I gave it a solid go. One year later, at 51, I get to top of that hill 💪 with ease. In my 30s I would pass out before the middle.

So, … busy living my midlife crisis to the fullest? Yes! Very predictable. So much on time, that it feels ridiculous. But I embrace it exactly for what it is.

In the end, I am grateful this crisis involves so much playing and so much learning.

And for once, I feel comfortable in my wrinkling skin, being a kid, playing with my favorite toys and learning new tricks.

Writing, de-complicated

I also started writing some sort of book.

Honestly. 🤣 I am sticking to the trope, as hard as I can.

Needless to say, and e-x-a-c-t-l-y as the trope goes, it might take me a few years to finish it. A decade. Most likely, I won’t finish it at all… But here’s the thing: once I stopped worrying about who might read or judge my words, and started writing just for me, the pressure disappeared.

With that weight off my mind, I started having fun writing again. And fun not just writing, editing as well. And it got even better when I shared it and got to hear some friends reading it out loud.

That’s when I started wishing this blog was flowing as well. But coming back to this blog is another challenge, another level. It’s always coming back to a certain plausible audience. Not a particularly concrete audience, though. More like an idea of. And this idea is not always as kind as a friend chilling in the balcony after a good meal.

But screw it. I do not need to polish these posts. 😇 Embracing imperfection and settling for good enough is working wonders in other areas of my life. And I also want to keep it simpler from now on. Writing doesn’t have to be a performance; it’s just a tool for connection. And I’m not here to impress anyone (especially you, yes, you 😬).

I just want to focus on what I’m trying to say and enjoy it.

The joy, by the way, lies in the process, not the outcome. 🙃 And the less I overthink it, the more fun it becomes.

What’s next?

A little over a year ago, I was completing my 50th tour of the solar system.

I thought it was the perfect excuse to come back to this blog. I wrote a post in my head, over and over, something like “My own fifty at fifty”, inspired by Tony Hawk’s insane youth.

In this post I would list how I (re)learned to cycle without using my hands, or how I learned how to hold still at every red traffic light, without putting a foot to the ground. I would mention my clean one-hand backhand, and how I can shout the score in nine different languages. Playing with the toys, learning new tricks.

But I missed that window. I meanwhile turned 51, just two months ago, and while I am proud of each new trick I learned, I don’t think they’re worth a post.

I expect to be blogging about some of the projects I have been working on, though. I am learning new digital tricks as well. I have been cooking with new ingredients, and it smells like cool stuff.

This is me, hitting the play button again.

Hello.


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