A year of Bear
I’m pretty sure that with any other blogging platform or self-hosted solution I would never have written as much as I did this year using Bear. With just one or two articles each month I’m far from super active, but what matters to me is that I’ve find a sort of rhythm that feels good to me.
Like I wrote in December 2024, I’m not writing for the sake of sharing, but mostly as a means to reflect. That’s still true now and although it sometimes feels like I should keep up with my self inflicted cadence, that feeling motivates me to sit down and take a bit of time to write. Which is ultimately what I want to do.
Not one time did I consider tweaking any visuals or styles. Nor did I think of hosting my blog differently. I also didn’t change my tools or workflow. I still use iA Writer and simply copy/paste the contents to Bear. Simple as that.
My most read page is my ‘Now’ page. I find it a strong concept. I change it frequently to remind myself of the things I want to focus on.
My best read article is one of my more personal stories, where I described how I cut down on caffeine. A simple validation that writing with courage is rewarded.
My longest article is a post where I compared programming with AI to riding an e-bike. It took several weeks to write and I really liked to explore the metaphor, often in my head while cycling to work.
I’m most happy with my “Do not add to it” post, because it allowed me to write a bit about Stoicism with a personal twist.
I’m looking forward to 2026 and the moments of reflection and writing it may bring. Thanks Bear!