If you have been reading the blog for some time, you have likely seen this coming. Yes, it is time for me to retire, post my real life retirement, now from the online world as well. An old man needs some time to relax!
It has been a fascinating journey, building this site, and learning all about online interactions. Building the Web courses. Meeting so many of you via the forum and e-mail. As much as it was frustrating at times, with the site breaking and communication occasional overwhelming, I am very grateful to have had the experience.
The Web and humanity’s exponentially increasing ability for collective learning has shown me that it is possible to make a difference in people’s eyesight health, even when they are half a world away. It’s something I would never have imagined to witness in my lifetime.
Truth be told, I have been planning my exit since the day I started the site. First it was going to be six months, then a year, then two. Now it has been much longer than that, and I feel that things have become stable enough for me to take my hand off the wheel. I’m hoping to take the bit of time I have left pursuing other ambitions. Travel a bit. Spend more time not thinking about eyes. For the past year or so I have been wanting to really do this, but a good exit remained elusive. There just wasn’t a good opportunity for a hand-off, I didn’t know who might become the new steward of this project.
“The site is changing to present a community model of support.”
In the end I realized that there are a number of excellent practitioners for you to draw insights from. Rather than trying to find one person to take over my responsibilities, the site is changing to present a community model of support. You may be getting perspectives from Ayurveda and traditional eastern medicine, as well as strong Western recent science based insights. All of it will continue to be in line with the exact method I have advocated here since the start, with the same basic principles and the same courses. The improvement will be on the front of more diverse insights, and more practitioners lending their time to this project. Everyone is and will be carefully vetted, and all the forum and course support will come only from a few esteemed colleagues in the field of myopia rehabilitation.
Things have been in unofficial transition for a while now. For the time being I will continue to be available for existing one-on-one participants, and occasional forum posts. In case something needs attention, I will be available.
In reality all that is going to change for you is that you continue to receive the same level of support and content, with a bit more current context. Like the recent article discussing podcasts, you will get even more lifestyle relevant advice. I’m a bit of a relic, I don’t even use a smartphone, and never listened to a podcast. In that sense, this project is going to receive a needed boost to future proof its contents for you.
I know that all change can first feel unsettling. You may wonder and worry. Please do trust me, when I say that everything that you enjoyed will continue on, and some of the things you may have been missing, might finally start to come to fruition. Everything will stay good and continue to get better.
Lastly, please know that the transition will be slow and gradual. To help preserve continuity and to make sure you keep getting great support, nothing will be different overnight. Anything new will be tested first, get feedback, and be changed only as long as it works well for everyone.
Please do welcome and support our new guides. They are lending their rather valuable time here entirely uncompensated (aside from expenses for the Web and some administrative expenses for those providing actual support). We are all fortunate to be able to continue to draw from this growing resource.
Embrace the new, and keep enjoying healthy eyesight!
