(don't overthink this, I didn't)
I'm playing with a "coffeeshop" mode for Ensō. It's pretty simple: hit shift twice to toggle between visible and masked text:
Why am I doing this:
Immediate reason: I usually write my Stream of Consciousness Morning Notes at home, but this time I was in a crowded coffeeshop with people breathing down my neck.
Original title: My guardian angel putting me to sleep.
Less immediate, but more important, reason: a big chunk of my writing practice is learning how to process and understand my emotions. This means that my notes are deeply personal.
Even when I write at home, and my partner (someone I trust more than anyone else!) is passing by, just knowing/feeling that someone might see what I'm doing makes me feel anxious. That has to do with a couple of things:
- vulnerability — feeling self-conscious as often during writing I touch on things that make me feel vulnerable. I want to be open to that feeling.
- intimacy — I need a space that is just mine. Ensō has always been one of those places (related Expressive Writing).
And yes, I know that we're all just little boats floating in the sky, people are busy and no one is really looking. This is not a rational fear, this is about having a sense of emotional safety. A feral cat lives in my head rent-free and I'm trying to make it easier for her to feel comfortable. I accept it.
What's next:
This feature is not available in the app yet. I'm working on a bigger update for Ensō (more on that soon). I'll give it a few more weeks before making changes.
Questions to answer
- is it useful? (seems so!)
- how to balance: the simplicity of the UI, ensuring its purpose is clear, as well as discoverability of new features. This is tricky when your app aims to be a clean slate of paper with almost no UI (MISS – Make It Stupid, Simple).
Edit: Emotional Blockers
As I was editing this I realised that this feature relates to todepond's approach to emotional blockers in creative work. Read about them here (OK, I don't 100% agree with their way of categorising these problems, but I think it's a powerful and useful metaphorOK.)
Also, check out Projects and apps I built for my own well-being and Things to support my own well-being – a wishlist if you're interested in work similar to this.
Thanks for reading, see you soon!
P.S. This note started as a draft of a post on Bluesky. I'm really happy I finished it here. I feel like I have a much clearer picture of how to work on this (Instead or writing a comment, write a post and link it).
