I think this is not the time to delete an old archive of personal data, it feels like someone who deleted his bitcoin in 2010.. Data is eating the world.

I can’t help but wonder if it was the journaling, the act itself of creating and keeping a second brain, that ultimately was useful for the author.

It’s surely a question of perspective. View entries as (perhaps) things to do, or just as historical record.

The former is likely a mental burden, the latter not?

I keep mine but archived as git history. I don't return to it but in critical moment I can come back to some obscure information I recorded years ago - useful for legal or insurance.

And my "second brain" is just handful list of current stuff, some home technical or financial details my family would need in case I am in coma, etc. I would call it Snapshot of Presence notes.

> I don’t want to manage knowledge. I want to live it.

This is the essence!

Very good post. I think the nuclear action was perfect, it was neede to get out of the loop.

You should write your thoughts, not copy paste others'. This way you help reorganise your brain to adapt to the subject. Some thoughts should be written as a tool and then thrown away, others (more important) should be kept

Has OP never had too many tabs, too many unread emails before? Declare bankrupcy, archive instead of delete. Obsidian allows you to have multiple vaults - and you can link to other vaults, Maybe a Vault per year will work better for you if you ever decide to not use Second brain again.

If it wasn't for the compulsive authoring, storing, organizing, accessing, discarding, archiving, indexing and retrieving of notes and related data I wouldn't know what a computer was good for.

But the whole "second brain" trend always made my stomach turn and the surrounding culture of productivity/personal knowledge management is a tarpit.

I'd like a digital reset - like starting a new play-through in a game.

I don't know how exactly? Buy a new PC, maybe I should jump platforms, a new email address, no past bookmarks, some deliberate avoidance of things I know by memory.

The old stuff will always be there, but I feel like a fresh opportunity to explore the digital world could be nice. Or maybe not?

Reminds me of stories people tell after they lost all their belongings in a fire. Pain but also relieve

> Markdown files in nested folders.

I’m debating whether nested folders should be used at all in my PKMs. I’m starting to think everything should be in the root folder. Less likely to render searchability incomplete due to some function or widget breaking.