A new year is approaching. I can’t believe it’s 2025 already. I mean, my memory is still stuck in 2020. But yeah, what can we do except celebrate?
Hence, I’ve decided to get my favorite hobby back on track again and selectively share my perspectives publicly with those who might be interested.
A Flashback
A couple of years ago, I started Halawa.dev . The main theme was to provide fine-tuned articles on various technical subjects. I’ll admit this was an unrealistic perspective and felt like a burden, as I’d spend days and days reviewing a single article. Eventually, I’d press the remove button because I was never satisfied. There are a few key points that led to this.
Perfectionism Curse!
It will never happen. No matter how much you tune your creation, it will always have flaws as the environment changes, various circumstances occur, and the content becomes outdated at some point. One thing I learned this year is to favor pragmatism, efficiency, and simplicity over premature complexity. If someone asked me to build something that adds numbers, I’d give them an Abacus ! But requirements are always the main ruler. Avoiding unnecessary spices is what gives you a delicious meal.
The Ecosystem
Starting as a simple blog created by Hashnode.com , I later moved to WordPress.com . That’s where the time waste increased exponentially. It was like cutting a cake with a sword. The system is fully-fledged and easy to customize, but for someone like me, it’s a curse! I would change the overall site identity over and over, deviating from the original goal, which means none of them fit my use case given my personality.
Bloated Perspectives
The internet is bloated. If I counted how many blogs have unique and non-repetitive perspectives these days, my fingers might be enough to do the job. The sad truth is, I found myself going this way, and it was pointless. It’s okay to write about something that millions have written about, but the perspective matters.
The world needs different perspectives around original ideas. It’s happening—there are multiple manufacturers for the same product categories. I used to ask myself a question: wasn’t a single calculator manufacturer enough? But guess what? We need this variety. Every single manufacturer has a different perspective and feature set that suits some of us while not being the best for others.
The same case applies to textual content. I was under the impression that rewriting something differently while adding my perspective was pointless, but it’s not. That’s due to what readers favor.
Since birth, we’ve been on an undeclared mission to discover the world. Explaining matters from a different point of view was necessary, and that’s due to how our minds work. We mix ideas to form new ones, and the feed is necessary. Curiosity is inevitable—it’s our blessing as humankind. Bloating this process with repetitive perspectives makes it a boring and mild journey. Your mind might lose its creative power eventually.
The Ideas Flow
The flow of ideas was kind of broken in my head. That’s due to personal circumstances. I recently moved to the Netherlands, a country I loved with all my heart. I didn’t have an easy start. As a Middle Eastern guy, the cultural difference gave me a bit of in-confidence. But it was a matter of time until I understood the basics and tamed myself to the environment and the cold weather. Yes, it’s freezing here most of the time. It’s still an ongoing journey, and I’m grateful for everything I’ve learned so far.
Reshaping your mind and having a variety of cultural traits makes many things clearer about human beings. This exposure taught me how to think more effectively. I can recall that my whole idea about writing blog posts was writing things over and over while attempting to simplify matters for others. That was my initial goal of writing. But it’s not. Sometimes, you have to go back and forth, ask yourself many questions, and attempt to have reasonable answers. Make more paths clearer, even for yourself, before attempting to share them with others.
Dealing with ideas and concepts as a solid template that will never change is an ugly limitation. Preventing your mind from interpreting these concepts, understanding the main reason they exist, and how they solve specific problems—or not even understanding the problem—is even uglier. In the era of Generative AI, what differentiates you from an agent is your ability to creatively and consciously answer, explain, or invent. Otherwise, you’re just another minion or agent in a swarm. It’s not easy, but the attempt is required. With humility, I’d claim that I was a minion. I’m still one in some contexts.
An Attempt
Learning from mistakes is inevitable. It’s my way of interpreting this world. I can’t call myself a smart guy by any means. I’m an ignorant person trying to understand What, How, and Why in every single aspect of my life. While retrospectively recalling my attempts, I found the previous highlights.
Changes Over Time
As I’m assured that my understanding of some ideas is reshaped repeatedly as I learn more, I tended to call them traces. That’s where the name Trace In Time came from.
No Promises
I can’t guarantee 100% correctness in what I’m sharing. It’s rather perspectives on different matters. But I promise that I’ll do my best to validate all the information I share. However, I’d suggest that you revisit any references or resources that I’ll leave beneath each article.
Criticism First
Constructive criticism is the main driver. I used to fear it sometimes, but experience taught me it’s the best way to refine your learning. Meanwhile, sharing these perspectives is my way of leaving a trace of my previous understanding of some concepts. Think of it as version control for ideas. That’s why I’d highly encourage any passenger passing by to drop a question or comment. And please avoid praising unless you have something more to elaborate on.
Green light
Having explained my previous attempt, and the shape of the new one, I more than ready and so enthusiastic to kick off this attempt. So, Let that party begin! 🎉