Three Years of Quotes

It's been quite a while since I've posted a blog post. But here I am again with a new post, with a bit of a different feel.

After three years of doing the 'Quote of the Day', I decided that 2015 was the year to finally end this initiative.

I'm somebody who's very big on quotes (I think some of my university classmates can attest to that; I used to find quotes for just about everything - essays; 60+ journals for a course; even some 'goodbye' letters). Different quotes have inspired me in different ways. Due to this, I wanted to share this inspiration with others.

In 2012, I started doing the 'Quote of the Day'. My plan was to keep this going for a one-year period. I made minor adjustments to my vision along the way as well. One example: rather than choosing a quote from a well-known person every time, I started choosing quotes from lesser-known people as well if the quote was inspiring or meaningful to me. I also tried to do a 'two-for-one' day once a month (at least), and included religious quotes as well on certain days. And I also never (purposely) posted the same quote (if I accidentally quotes a previous one, I used to post another one to make up for the duplicate).

While my goal was to end it after 2012, I ended up carrying it over in 2013 for a couple of different reasons. I wanted to take it a step further in 2013 and do something a little bit extra, but unfortunately I was unable to take that extra step. I still aimed to post a quote each day (although for a period in July, I was unable to due to a horrible case of the stomach flu that landed me in the ER - but I still made those days up). And the plan again was to end it after 2013. But again, I carried it on for another year in 2014 for the same reasons I carried it on in 2013.

In 2014, I continued it to the best of my abilities. I didn't try to do anything extra. I was able to slightly expand it by posting certain quotes (religious quotes) on Instagram. But beyond that, nothing else was really different. The biggest change for me was that I didn't feel as passionate or committed to posting as I once did. In 2012 & 2013, I used to post the quotes in the morning time whenever I could. However in 2014, I'd post them very late at times (especially towards the latter half of the year).

There are a few different reasons why I felt this was the time to end this initiative from my part (and hopefully somebody else can maybe take over). One main reason is because of what I stated before: a lack of passion & commitment. I don't like to do anything half-heartedly; and I know I would be doing this half-heartedly if I carried it on for another year.
A second main reason is because I want to focus on some other initiatives going forward. This initiative sometimes was much more time-consuming than I had hoped or wanted it to be (especially when trying to find a good quote that I hadn't used previously).
And a third main reason was because the timing just seems right. When I started, it was just a few days before Arbaeen. And it's now completed on Eid al-Zahra. This wasn't planned or anything, and the realization came afterwards.

I know some people will be disappointed or sad that I've ended it as they've found it inspirational (based on the feedback I've seen) - to those folks, I really do apologize. The fact that people actually took time to read and felt inspired really means a lot - that was my overall goal of this. And I really thank you as well for your dedication for actually reading the quotes.

I may end up starting it again at some point. And I'll still post some quotes here and there if I see something that is really inspiring. I'll also continue with the religious quotes as well.

And just so that there isn't so much of a void, I'm going to provide two links to where I used to get my quotes from:
ThinkExist: http://www.thinkexist.com/
BrainyQuote: http://www.brainyquote.com/
Both sites are fantastic; I used to go by the birthday to find a quote (for the most part). ThinkExist also has people who passed away on certain days (although sometimes they are off on the birthday and 'death day' of someone).

To end this blog post, I can only do it with the way I know best - a quote.

"The hearts become tired as the bodies become tired. You should therefore search for beautiful sayings for them (to enjoy by way of refreshment)."
 - Imam Ali (AS) (Nahjul Balagha, no.197)