Why I Made A Newsletter for Norse Report
And Why It Matters to Me Again
by Kyle Craven
BEFORE WE DIVE IN
If you’re anything like me (focusing daily to improve and maintain your mental health), then you probably limit your social media time. I noticed a gradual decline in my mental health starting in 2021 but continuing in 2022. It got really bad over the summer of 2022 and continued pretty much until recently. The easiest way to describe it was that there was this nagging feeling of dread looming over every single thought I had. Everything was a struggle. I’d constantly be fighting with the angel and demon on either shoulder over the positives and negatives in life, and the demon was winning more often than not. Literally this debate happened in my head over every single possible thing. Social media exacerbated the issue. I’d get on Twitter to tweet about the Norse and I’d see a dozen or so political tweets that would just cripple me. The same thing happened with Facebook. While I’m unapologetic for my empathetic worldview and always will be that way, the overuse of social media was beginning to embed a toxicity in my brain that I couldn’t get rid of. It was like an invisible tumor. It was impacting my drive and my focus at work. I was fighting with and ridiculing random people I’ve never met on Twitter, getting angry over things that didn’t directly impact me, or that I had no control over, and fighting with friends and family on Facebook.
That’s not the person I am. I try to bring people together. I try motivate and inspire. It describes what I’ve done as an NKU fan. Chris Boggs created the NKU Norse Nation fan page and appointed me its first admin. I grew it to over 3,500 people before ceding control. Chris Hart brought me into his Norse Report tent and the first thing I wanted to do was to buy a bigger tent and include more people — admittedly to a fault at times. My nature is to be in harmony with others. But I was letting outside factors disrupt some of the best parts of my personality. One of the prescriptions of change was to unplug. I needed to get off of social media, to fix myself. I deleted Twitter and Facebook from my phone, eventually deleting my Twitter account all together. (@NorseReport is still alive and well). That was the first step. I lost touch with everyone outside of my IMMEDIATE circle, something I needed to do but also am sorry to have let it come to that.
Back in 2021, I knew this was coming. I could feel it. I hated the way I felt when I got on social media. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe some small amount of you have felt it too. Or maybe more of you feel it but refuse to admit it. As a result of this resentment, I decided to try to make NORSE REPORT independent from almost all social media. I didn’t want to HAVE to rely on some Facebook group (that has seemingly become more and more negative by the day judging by a large portion of the commentary) to pump up my articles. I needed a way to REACH YOU without relying on 2 or 3 apps that contain very little content that isn’t venomous. So I started this newsletter. It’s available to everyone. You don’t have to subscribe to read the articles. Subscribers will get emailed when a new email newsletter drops. Subscribers can comment on articles. Subscribers will be able to chat (which we haven’t set up yet but will when we reach 500 subscribers). This is a way for anyone who is like me (decided to remove themselves from the toxicity of social media) to stay up to date with all things Norse. At our speed. Which leads us to this: every Monday, subscribers of THIS newsletter will receive what we are calling “The Monday Morning Commute” — the top 3 stories currently revolving around NKU and/or NCAA Athletics. These won’t be super in depth stories — just little quick blurbs, but it’ll help you stay up to speed on all things NKU Basketball (and maybe some other things).
I know by taking time off (extended time really the past two seasons) that I lost some credibility. I lost the attention of people who used to be partners, and even those who I would have considered friends. I don’t hold anything against anyone who sees that Norse Report is being active again and instantly rolls their eyes. If I’m being perfectly honest, I’d do the exact same thing. My hope is that over time, I can gradually get comfortable doing this again, get a little bit of consistency back in my life and this platform, and maybe win some of you back over. I know it’ll never be everyone, and finally — I am perfectly at peace with that.
MAKE SURE YOU CATCH OUR WEEKLY PODCAST: Monday Morning Commute
This week’s episode covers 3 topics:
Darrin Horn’s extension
Portal and Recruiting Updates
Word on the Street: Iowa vs. LSU National Championship Game
