congratulations!

You have managed a huge task. It’s already difficult enough to quit something you think you’re forced to do (like a job, for instance). Let alone something you came up with yourself and which was supposed to only serve your own needs and wishes - and still, you decided to quit. Wow.

Closing the blog appears to me as a proof: You have achieved what you aimed at. Which I understood as constantly questioning yourself (as well as everything else) and at the same time taking care of yourself. I’m happy for you that you did so well with this task.

On the selfish side (I, too, will miss your writing and photos), I would like to encourage you to think twice if you really want to stop blogging. Cause maybe the decision isn’t really to be made between 365 daily blogs or no blog at all.

I may be totally wrong, but to me it feels like the general idea of running a blog was right, only the specifics weren’t (at least not for more than 118 posts). If so, you could consider only writing once in a while, whenever you feel like it, like Julia suggested. Or just take a break and then start again, like Michael said. You could also make a new task out of a strict limitation of the time you’ll take to write and find photos. Or you could come up with some other design that would give you the freedom you need.

Oh, and if you still ponder about being read after all these warm comments from your avid readers, consider this: Your blog stats may not produce huge numbers, but as far as comments go, let me assure you: Readers, whether it’s blog readers or magazine readers, rather feel like writing back when you give them something to complain about. So maybe you can find a hidden compliment in the lack of blog activities.

Petrina

I’ve kept a journal since I was 14 when I received this little book on that birthday. First it started with everyday musings, then it got intense (for a 14 yr old anyway), but gradually, it just sort of faded. I still write in it though. Not often. But enough that it really does document my life over the years. And now? I’ve had this ragged book for 20 years now. And it’s not even close to being filled.

The key to me was to write when I felt like it. And as I told you in Vegas, it’s a blog. You shifted your “control” behavior from photography over to your blog. So honestly, you still have a need in some part of your life for control and perfection. Writing a blog entry everyday, with a photo….those two things you can control.

I think if nothing else, you’ve learned a lesson about control and perfection. Neither are mutually exclusive, and perhaps neither are all that important for your mental well-being after all.

It’s the journey. And it’s your journey. Change all the rules as you want.

You have friends that will support you no matter what.

Lunch is on me. Let’s set a date and time.

I discovered your blog January, and since then reading it has been a daily routine for me. I am sad to see it end!!

I want you to know how extremely proud I am of you for baring your soul to all! Through this blog you have continued to help me just as you did when we were together. So, in a way I never really missed you because all I had to do was turn on my computer and that sense of loss would melt away.

Thanks for all of the stories, yes, Carsten I will admit that you are a funny German!

You are my little butterfly. It’s amazing how much you have grown!! Nothing makes me happier to see you living your life and letting go…I on the other hand have quite a bit of work to do Thank you for the inspiration.

-You will forever have a piece of my heart!!!

Brisha

I have not challenged you openly on any of your blog entries, it’s not really my style and I would rather acknowledge/support your genious than depreciate it ~ regardless of where you are at.

However; any belief that you have not made a difference as a result of this blog “project” is simply…

well…

…wrong!

: )

The fact that you just show up day in and day out for 118 days, with 118 entries is a “fait accompli”. I said once before you were unbuuntu: a person who has what it takes to be a human being. In your writings and photographs you express the unexpressable, you say what needs to be said and when/if your words “miss” your photography takes over and the unspoken is spoken…

I think we can successfully live our own lives while also living through others in healthy ways. I’ve lived vicariously through your words and photos, your experiences and thoughts, I’ve felt them and touched them as though they were “my own’…

Recently I have been imagining how it would all look in a great, big, coffee table book entitled Carsten Fleck ~ 365 days…

In the end though I can only say two things:

Thanx for listening, acknowledging and following the still, small voice within you…

and

Venti, Soy, Tazo, Chai????

(have you tried no water yet?)

p.s. I’m with Julia ~ on hitting the blog when “it feels right”…

and;

you might want to take some typing lessons, it REALLY does make a functional difference to “speed” process…

m

I would also like to thank you for sharing so much of yourself with such honesty. Even though we may view the process of change differently (I still think the confrontation approach does not work for many people), I think both of us agree that change can be difficult for many people, myself included. I have been adjusting to some major changes since my trip to China. Your constant desire to change has inspired me and given me courage.

“Abandoning ship” sounds a bit depressing and final. Would you consider “jumping ship” instead? Perhaps the new ship is better and would mean that you write a blog only when the inspiration hits. The new ship also does not hold you back from having fun and living the life that you want to live. The new blogs will be better as they will be free from the sense of burden.

I look forward to seeing you again.

Much love,
Julia