For years, I’ve nurtured a peculiar habit. I’d get struck by a brilliant flash of an idea, and my immediate reaction would be, “I need a domain name for this!” So, off I’d go, diving headfirst into hours (sometimes days) of searching for the perfect domain. To me, a domain name isn’t just a name—it’s the essence of the project, the digital equivalent of naming your child.
Once I bag the domain, the next phase begins: The Tech Stack Dilemma™.
The Tech Stack Tug-of-War
PHP – Symfony / Laravel
I’m a PHP loyalist at heart, having been around these frameworks since their inception. They’re like old friends—reliable, comfortable, and always there to welcome you back with open arms.
Node.js – Too Many Choices, Too Little Patience
Enter Node.js, and suddenly, it’s like walking into an ice cream parlor with 500 flavors. Every framework promises to be “the best.” After Googling for what feels like a geological epoch, I finally settle on one, only to realize I need a crash course because I haven’t touched it in ages. And let’s be honest, learning a framework at 40+ isn’t the same as binge-watching Stranger Things. Those tutorial videos? They’re the real sleeping pills.
GoLang, Rust, Python ….. Ruby – I don’t even want to talk about it
The Database Drama
Now comes the database conundrum: MySQL? PostgreSQL? Or should I venture into the mystical land of object databases? Sure, I want scalability, performance, and low cost, but why does it feel like choosing between a Honda, a Tesla, and a spaceship?
And don’t get me started on scaling databases. It’s expensive, and the last thing I want is a system that folds like a lawn chair the moment it faces heavy traffic.
The Architectural Chaos
Microservices or monolith?
CDN or local storage?
RabbitMQ, SQS, or a good ol’ prayer?
The options are endless, and my head feels like it’s running AWS EventBridge 24/7. Over the years, I’ve leaned heavily on AWS—it’s my comfort zone, even if my wallet winces every time I say “S3.” These services just work. But the endless possibilities often paralyze me, leaving my “brilliant idea” stuck in a mental loop.
The Sad Truth: Dream Domains, Dormant Ideas
By now, you’ve probably guessed the outcome. I end up buying a domain, planning the architecture in my head, and… that’s it. The project gets buried under the weight of day-to-day work, only to resurface as a fleeting thought months later. Meanwhile, the domain renews like clockwork, adding to my graveyard of unused URLs.
Typical Pisces behavior, right? Big dreams, minimal execution.
A New Year, A New Approach
But this year, I’ve decided to dig up one of those long-forgotten ideas. Of course, the cycle began again—domain bought, tech stack debated, paralysis ensued. After 10 days of spinning my wheels, frustration hit, and I finally had an epiphany:
KISS—Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Enter Strapi: The Chosen One
Lately, I’ve been working with Strapi, a headless CMS that feels like it was designed just for procrastinators like me. It’s intuitive, comes with prebuilt content management features, and lets me focus on the fun stuff without reinventing the wheel. With proper caching and scaling, Strapi can handle serious data loads, but I’ll cross that bridge when (if) I get there.
Learning to Let Go
Historically, I’ve been a control freak—every line of code, every feature had to be mine. But this obsession has been a massive roadblock. Recently, a conversation with someone inspiring shifted my perspective. Sometimes, you don’t need to control everything; you just need to start.
So here I am, starting again. This time, I’m letting go of perfectionism and focusing on progress.
The Plan
As part of this journey, I’m committing to keeping this blog alive with updates every two weeks. This is my way of holding myself accountable. Even if I can only work on the project during my free time, I’ll share what I learn, the mistakes I make, and (hopefully) the wins I achieve.
Because at the end of the day, unfinished projects and dormant domains are part of the creative process. And who knows? Maybe one of these ideas will finally take flight.
The new projects first version I am planning call it “Desert Dreams”. You can follow the tag if you are interested.
Stay tuned. Or don’t. The domain’s already renewed, so it’s not going anywhere. 😅