One year ago I started my blog so I could lay out my thoughts on various matters, both personal and worldly, using the written word. Just like a personal diary helps people organize their thought process and understand more clearly what is happening in their head, a blog produces a similar effect but with the added benefit of sharing this activity with others. Of course, divulging your innermost secrets and desires to the whole world is not always the best idea, so the use of a personal notebook cannot be discarded. But a public venue is a great way to communicate to others why you hold certain ideas as well as gather feedback. Whether this feedback is support, criticism, praise or condemnation does not matter much as long as you see reverberations. Being on a personal journey, guided by various powers, you never know when a certain comment on your work makes a deep impression or even changes the whole course of your actions. What is more, seeing people from different places and cultures agree with your unique perspective makes the journey much more enjoyable—after all, you are not the only one who thinks this way, you have company.
Months later, in the spirit of experimentation, I decided to try other media to express my ideas. I started the Citadelium podcast and, to this date, have already released over twenty episodes. I enjoy the process as much as I enjoy writing, in my own amateurish way. As time and energy management is not something I am extremely good at, I can definitely say that podcasting affected my writing ability. Choosing one or the other would probably be a good decision, but I feel that these two media of delivering content are quite different. Perhaps, a better way would be to decide which topics I cover in the podcast and what is better suited for the written word. As usual, only time and consistency will solve this issue. So I will keep doing both.
At first, I wanted my blog and podcast to be dedicated to a particular topic that I can study and cover extensively. But the nature of my character is such that my interests change quite often. However, I do not consider these changes completely unrelated. Even if one starts a blog on trigonometry and then pivots to abstract art, there is probably some common thread between these two that forced the change. It is up to the author with his exclusive point of view to understand how and why this happened. Perhaps, a few years down the road, an important connection will be revealed which will put everything in its place. Similarly, I started with "bitcoin and citadels", but a quick look at my work gives a different impression to a first-time consumer. It is only by reading and listening through each piece that a common theme may be spotted. At times, the author himself has little idea how what he is working on now adds up to the rest of the content. Time usually solves this problem.
I often had reservations about my way of doing things. After all, I personally know a few successful authors and podcasters who are able to stick to their chosen course incredibly well—from newsletter to newsletter, from episode to episode. They are consistent, and I am not, I thought. At the same time, I simply could not force myself to write or talk about things that were not interesting to me at the moment. It would not flow. Even the present article was not included in some "content plan"—I sat at my laptop and started writing the first thing that popped in my mind. Today, it seems to be about my creative process and not about "bitcoin and citadels". My latest podcast episodes were done in a similar manner: I clicked "record" and talked.
Today, there are no more reservations. The truth is that while it is nice to see the numbers grow, I do not do it for money or fame. My target audience is not the mainstream public so there is no reason to expect "going viral". Like the prophet Isaiah was instructed by God to preach only to the select few—the remnant—I pour out my content for those who will take it. The rule of one thousand true fans, if the "fans" is an appropriate word. And so I will go on writing and talking about the things that interest me, from bitcoin to religion, from personal to abstract, without much worry about "consistency". After all, the best type of consistency is present in my work—that of the authorship.
A new approach that I would like to take is that of a unified brand. From the beginning, I wrote in my personal blog using my name. When it was time to give podcasting a shot, a then-planned recurring theme provided for a separate brand—"Citadelium". Citadelium is an abstract place in which the idea of citadels floats with its many sides and interpretations. Many because, at first, I intended to talk about building real-life citadels such as city-states, but the endeavour quickly evolved into a more-encompassing genre. We now have the inner citadel, family and community as citadels and the actual villages and cities. An internal, spiritual component is taking a place of similar, if not greater, importance in the theme as the external, material one. No wonder: you can only change your world by changing yourself. Whether you want it or not, the physical citadel you are working on will reflect your inner composition. As the brand name Citadelium may now mean anything I want it to mean (but, hopefully, not too much), my personal thoughts would be well suited there. Why separate Yuri de Gaia's personal blog from Citadelium? They are one and the same.
As a result, the whole body of my work will continue under the brand of Citadelium. Some real estate will be moved around, but overall there will not be many changes, especially to the substance. I will continue exploring various topics, shallow and deep, to occupy more and more of the unlimited supply of bytes on the Internet for people to discover, or not. At this point, this undertaking can be considered self-reflection, therapy, organization. If it helps others at the same time—great. What matters the most is that it surely benefits me. This does not sound very charitable but it does fit the philosophy of "cleaning your room first". What is good for you may turn out good for those around you at some point, in some capacity. The work on the Self is, therefore, intimately connected with your success in the material world. You cannot lead others without having control over yourself. You cannot bring order to your surroundings without ordering your thoughts. You cannot bring Light if your inner fire has not been kindled.
With all that said, welcome to the all-new Citadelium website! My personal blog and the podcast are now hosted here along with some additional materials and links. Browse, like it, dislike it. Share with those who may benefit from the content.
Ad astra!
