This is the 52nd issue of Weekly Meditations. That’s a big big milestone — a whole year of consistent writing!

So today, I took the time to revisit all my essays. Reading each one slowly and with fresh eyes, I was actually kind of impressed XD. Even the ones I originally thought to be not good enough felt very well written. I was like “Woah, I wrote that?!”.

Okay that’s straight up braggy but I’m really happy with the work I’ve done this past year. This newsletter has made me a better writer and that helps in other projects as well, such as technical documentation and video scripts.

In today’s issue, let me present to you some of my favorite essays from Weekly Meditations.

Personal Favorite

My personal favorite is actually one of the oldest. It was the 5th issue and I barely had any readers at that time. So, chances are, you haven’t read this one.

In this essay, I list out 101 things to be grateful for. It was pretty hard to come up with this list because not only I wanted it to be relevant to everyone, I also didn’t want to make stuff up just to reach the magic number.

Reading it after a year, I could still resonate with every item on the list, so that’s a relief.

Changing Perspectives

A friend of mine had found ‘The Alchemist’ to be a boring read. She could barely finish it and didn’t see the point of the story. But when I shared my takeaway from the book, her perspective changed.

It was quite obvious to me while writing, but my friend couldn’t see it the same way. That’s why I find this piece valuable. It’s an evidence that my work isn’t going into a void and can actually help someone.

Most Well Received

Below are two of my most well received essays. These are the ones for which the readers actually reached out, had discussions, and even praised me.

For this one, I got a long email that lead to a discussion thread.

And after this one, a reader texted me on WhatsApp just to appreciate my work. That’s a big effort I would say.

Most Resonating

I think money is one topic that interests every single one of us. Maybe that’s why this essay resonated with the most number of readers. If I’m not wrong, I got more messages for this one than any other essay.

If you haven’t read it, give it a shot and let me know if you could resonate :)

Wow it was hard to pick these essays and leave out others, but here we are. If you have missed on some of my previous work and would like to read, you can always find it in the archives :)

With this issue, I mark my first year in writing! Thank you for reading my words each week, it means everything to me. I will write for the years to come, so stay tuned :D

Catch you next week!
Aachman