Jimmy Chim

Tag: Resistance

  • Time to leap

    I’ve recently started to swim once a week. When arriving at the pool, I often dip only my legs into the water. Instead of diving in, I sit there, resisting the plunge into the cold water.

    After a few minutes, it’s clear I have lingered at the pool’s edge for too long. I take a deep breath, bracing myself for the initial chill. 

    Then I jump in.

    It’s cold! ????

    Yet, the discomfort disappears once I get oriented and start slicing through the water. The icy sting is replaced by a liberating experience of exhilaration.

    Then I think, “The cold isn’t that bad after all!”

  • It Gets Easier

    When the newsletter idea came to me last September, I was excited but uncomfortable. As I wrote in ​my first letter​, “Who am I to send stuff to people’s inboxes? Where am I going with this?”

    Since I hadn’t worked on a creative project like this before, I had to learn new skills: how to collect ideas, distill stories down to their essence, and assemble them in a (hopefully) creative way.

    But the most monumental challenge was mental: the doubt of hitting send. The first twenty newsletters were the most difficult. I would rework my draft a dozen times, often filled with doubts. Sometimes I rewrote the entire letter and realized the previous version was better. 

    After experimenting for 40 weeks, the creative process remains challenging (and fun!), but I have begun to develop a sense of what I like and what may resonate with you. Most importantly, shipping the newsletter feels progressively more natural.

    My weekly goal is simple: give my best effort and hit send. If I manage to do that, I know I have made my following week a tad easier.