An Open Letter to My Community

The challenge I’m accepting for 2023

Once upon a time, I worked for a fairly large media company (which shall remain nameless) that probably should’ve shut down operations long before I ever darkened the door.

I don’t say that because the quality of their work stank or because the work environment was toxic, though both of those statements are true. I say it because I think the boss ultimately wanted to do something else.

Now, this is just me guessing. I could be totally wrong, but I got the feeling that, instead of a small media company serving a niche audience, he’d have liked to do something more mainstream. The only thing that stood in his way, was his previous success.

He’d already become one of the most influential [redacted] in the world, with the largest [redacted] media company serving [redacted], and seemed to have profited handsomely from it. To start something new would be to risk failure.

I’ve reflected on my time at that media company a lot in recent years because I’ve felt like I’ve been at that crossroads for some time now.

When I changed the name of my email list to Hope and Hard Pills, and started writing little nuggets of practical insight about social progress, it was easy, exciting, and incredibly meaningful. I would wake up at 5AM to write…