Courage over fear • Learning to live a better life • Building products in AI era petportraitgenerator.ai • Teaching Programmatic SEO dub.sh/pseo-course
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Joined December 2011
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Envy isn't good or bad in itself. It's just a signal of an older operating system that's trying to tell us something.
Recently I found myself feeling envious of a friend's social media success. Their posts were getting 100k views and I was simultaneously happy for them and unhappy for myself.
The feeling took over and was not letting go. When I noticed this, I paused and asked myself -
"What am I envious about?
Am I envious because their posts are doing so well?
No... It doesn't feel that way.
Am I envious because they seem to be succeeding?
Doesn't feel that way either.
...
Am I envious because it looks like they have found purpose and alignment in their work?"
I felt my entire being relax when I arrived at this.
What I felt envious about - is actually a way for my inner self to point out to me that -
"Hey, that thing you're looking at? We really care about it too. We want the same thing!"
Envy isn't good or bad in itself. It's just a signal of an older operating system that's trying to tell us something.
So I spoke back to my inner self -
"Thank you for informing me. You are right! I do want to find purpose and alignment with the work I do and the things I create and put out into this world. Seeing their posts take off made me feel happy for them while also making me feel the longing for the purpose and alignment (that I imagine) they must be experiencing.
I am working towards discovering this for myself. Let's keep going down our path and see where it leads us."
We often think about the things we messed up or the things that went wrong.
It's prudent to acknowledge that many of those tiny mess ups or mishaps may have led to the best things in our lives.
And many of those things that did go wrong, could have gone far more horribly wrong.
There is literally nothing to regret about if you're alive and of sound mind and body.
This doesn't mean you deny any feelings of regret such as "I wish that didn't happen", but also understand that maybe that thing that you wish hadn't happened is exactly what was meant to happen for you to live your best life. Do what you must with this knowledge.
Insane to think about how many unconscious decisions you've made that have unknowingly altered the entire course of your life. Stop at yellow light instead of driving through it. Go back inside because you forgot your wallet. Early by a few seconds here. Late by a few seconds there
Infinite what ifs. Took the wrong turn but maybe it prevented you from getting assaulted. Or maybe it made you miss out on bumping into who could've been your future wife. Or maybe it led to this and then that and then this and that
Makes you realize how powerless you actually are over the specific outcomes that transpire. Discouraging on the surface but will completely free you if you embrace this fact. You're off the hook. You can drop the weight now. No need to worry anymore. No more feeling regret
You have no idea what the thing you're sulking over might have protected you from. You have no idea how getting the thing you wanted might have been the first phase of eventual self sabotage. You have no idea about anything and never did
All you can do is flow with reality. It's all you should do. Try your best to operate in the world with genuine intentions. When in doubt, choose courage over fear. Thank God for everything that transpires without judgement. Have fun and be well
One of the finest books to come out in the 21st century. It's significance will only continue to grow as we progress into a post-capitalism world that is increasingly seeking meaning and inner alignment.
You are internally happy when you're working on something that you care about. It shows in your attitude and your face and your whole being.
It's quite sad watching Reddit go downhill. Happening only in a few subreddits at the moment but expanding fast thanks to AI.
I'm slowly noticing my search patterns move away from "search query [reddit]"
Maybe Google Search and ChatGPT apps will deprioritize results from Reddit soon and the downfall would be complete.
x.com/safwanknowstech/status…
Tracer filed the trademark claim here as well. Seems like a new company? Originally thought it's a name.
I urge other Shopify app devs in the WhatsApp space to talk about this and amplify it. I can imagine you may not be talking about it due to fear. I understand. I feel fear too.
But the only way we can hope for a better, more mediated way out of this from @Shopify @tobi @harleyf is if this receives enough attention. So please, talk about this and amplify the original threat.
x.com/hipreetam93/status/198…
But this is not about Facebook or Instagram.
This is about the official "WhatsApp" app that Meta has just launched.
It's not a coincidence that all the other apps such as @sivaram636 I'm sure many other apps also got the trademark takedown notice, with no clarity or clear communication from @ShopifyDevs but just an unclear warning and a threat to get delisted.
There are 40 pages of apps which have the "Facebook" word in them.
65 pages which have "Instagram" word in them.
Facebook & Instagram's own official app doesn't work. Otherwise why would it be rated at 3.8, which is quite literally bottom of the barrel for Shopify apps.
Requesting the folks at Shopify to please step in and help figure things out.
We too have received the trademark notice. And the deadline to fix it is 6 days away.
Otherwise, our app will be delisted from the Shopify app store. Just like that. After 5 years of being on the app store and complying with every request or warning or mildly threatening email about fixing something "or else".
Quite a violent way to communicate, I feel. Like this is the best a multi billion corporation can do?
It does not make any sense @harleyf @ShopifyDevs since the app store is full of apps with "Facebook" and "Instagram" in their app titles and descriptions.
Meta is forcing "WhatsApp" named apps to remove the word because they have launched their own WhatsApp app for Shopify.
When a big guy flexes, we small people don't have any way out.
Except if another big guy ( looking at you @Shopify @tobi ) is there to stand-up and meditate and come up with a more peaceful and decent way to go about it.
We have been building WhatsApp integration for Shopify for the last 5 years due to a Trademark notice from Meta or its representative, Shopify requires us not use “WhatsApp” even as a description of our app.The whole Shopify App is built for WhatsApp. @tobi @ShopifyDevs @harleyf
Decide the direction you want your life to go from your heart.
Use your brain to come up with the plan to realize your dreams.
Pour your entire being into making this plan and your dream life come true.
And last, believe in yourself. Fully. Be a bit delulu if needed (important for the inevitable tough times).
When you reject a trait or quality about yourself, it does not simply go away.
Instead, it finds its way to your Shadow, from where it unconsciously influences your behavior and secretly dictates how you judge others (because of how you judge yourself).
I'm now on a journey to make peace with my Shadow. To uncover the very traits I once rejected as 'negative'.
But maybe they were never "negative" qualities to begin with? Maybe they just needed understanding and guidance to develop into something beautiful.
Take vulnerability, for example. I struggled to share how I really felt or how deeply I was struggling. Because I couldn't accept this vulnerability in myself, I was unable to be empathetic or kind to myself. And neither was I able to ask others for help, real help.
But when I learned to see vulnerability not as a weakness, but as a strength to be nurtured (thanks to therapy), everything changed. Therapy changed my perspective - being vulnerable makes me stronger, not weaker.
And when I accepted this quality, like magic, I found that I was able to be empathetic and kind to myself (something I struggled with for so long).
And by extension, this kindness flowed to others, helping me form deeper, more meaningful connections.
For anyone wanting to explore this idea further, I found this video on Carl Jung's Shadow incredibly helpful. It’s one of the best I've seen.
youtube .com/watch?v=_46u8S0rTHc
Ambition is figuring out what **you**want to do with your life. And then having the courage to pursue it.
Fun story: from 2nd year during engineering.
I never got a failing grade, although there was one time I wish I did.
When the new semester began, I found out that most people had failed a subject, and they all came over during summer to give the repeat exam.
Ended up having a massive party at DeeTee. Some of them even got a 'C' grade from the repeat exam, as opposed to the 'D' grade I got in my first attempt.
My takeaway? Sometimes failing might be more memorable and fun than not failing 😂
🔥 He failed 2 times. The third time, he refused to quit.
Meet Preetam Nath, cofounder of DelightChat, indie hacker, and builder of Petshot Pro, a project already used by nearly a hundred people.
But his road to coding wasn’t smooth.
2018 → He tried learning to code. Couldn’t get past the basics. Quit.
2023 → He tried again. Got stuck in tutorial hell. Quit again.
2024 → He made a promise: show up for 12 months, every single day, no matter how slow progress feels.
This time, he didn’t quit.
He fought through tutorials, courses, and dead ends. He built messy apps that barely worked. He leaned on friends for guidance. He wrestled with errors for days. He showed up anyway.
Step by step, he leveled up:
HTML, CSS, JS → Rails → React → Next.js + TypeScript
Deployments, authentication, databases, cloud infra.
Even experimenting with AI integrations
And then came the breakthrough: Petshot Pro.
His first real project. His first real users. The moment everything finally clicked.
💡 Preetam’s advice to anyone starting?
“Don’t chase shortcuts. Set a strong intention. Show up every day, even 30 minutes. There will be weeks where nothing makes sense, but if you keep going, there’s a tipping point where suddenly everything does.”
The hardest part of his journey wasn’t learning code.
It was fighting himself on the days progress felt invisible.
And that’s what makes Preetam’s story powerful:
Not that he learned to code. But he learned to stay.
At Cactro, we celebrate stories like Preetam’s because they prove what we stand for: skill is built, not given.
New blog post ✍️
Sometimes I feel as if I'm sleepwalking through my life.
I think I slide into this mode whenever there are too many difficulties or challenges that life puts in my path.
But this protection turns into a distraction when it does not switch off on its own.
Realising this is when it's time to
It takes a lot of strength and courage to be a creator, and to put your creations out for the world (to judge).
Because every creator is human, and almost every human has to face and overcome their innermost fears and insecurities.
"What if the thing I do fails? What if people think I'm a failure? What if it validates my innermost fear that I'm not capable, or worthy, or good enough?"
Recognising the courage and strength it takes has changed how I feel towards anyone who creates.
It's easy to criticize. Pull someone else down. Make fun of. Mock.
It's hard to always cheer. Always support. Always root for.
Supporting others unconditionally also requires strength and courage.
Because "what if they had the courage to try and turn their dreams into reality, and if they succeed and live the dream life that I too could have had, but I never tried, what does that say about me?"
I discovered this image from a beautiful blog post titled "feel your feelings", written by
@isabelunraveled
https://read .isabelunraveled .com/p/feel-your-feelings
