Good Night, and Good Luck.

Today, The Couch turns 10 years old! I started this blog the summer after graduating college, which on the one hand, yes, feels like another life altogether. On the other hand, that means I'm a further distance from creating this website to present day, than my first published blog was to the day my family moved to South Carolina the summer before my 8th grade year. Which... well, which sort of just makes me feel like:

Every year on the blog's anniversary, we've marked it by running down the 10 most-read and widely-shared pieces of the year preceding, but for the decade mark, I figured it was worth expanding the retrospective. As such, if you've been following along, you'll know that over the last ten days, we've instead been reposting and sharing ten original editorials that ranged from silly to thoughtful, retrospective to prospective, sociopolitical to simply pop-cultural, spanning from sports to entertainment, as was always my hope for The Couch in its peak form.

As I've scrolled back through the 120 pages of articles, and re-read a large number of my own and so many others' pieces from over the years, I've had the biggest smile on my face remembering all the good content I've been lucky enough to host, contribute to and promote over the years. But as I've done that, I've also come to realize a difficult truth.

A decade of The Couch is more than just a significant marker in this blog's history; it's also a good and necessary time for me to call it quits.

At least for now.

The very first post on this site wasn't anything remarkable at all, really, just an introduction to the blog and its focus. Still, when I read it back, I can't help but feel a little emotional thinking about how much life has changed for myself from when I launched this, as well as for all the people that were involved at its outset. Many of those initial co-collaborators were people I'm not even in touch with any more (though if you're one of those people, and you're reading this, know that I still love you!). I've long split up with the girlfriend I was dating at the time who encouraged me to start this, and she has since gotten married and had children. Several other friends who have written pieces on this blog have done the same. No marriage or kids for me, but I did up and move away to a whole new place about halfway through this blog's tenure, and have lived what feels like at least 3 different lives spanning the pandemic out here in Washington, D.C., compared to what felt like a more uniform 'first life' in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when and where The Couch was born.

Something in particular in that first post stood out to me upon my recent reread, though, and it's where I mention "I can only hope that this enthusiasm never dwindles; that this experiment may prove to be a wonderful outlet for us, and for any new members we may add." I hope I can speak not only for myself but for everyone when I say that the last two sentiments certainly have continued to be true. However, I must be honest that what has made this decision to leave clearest is the first part of that mission statement: despite my hope, the enthusiasm has significantly dwindled over the years in keeping The Couch regular, fresh and fun.

After the first few years of the blog especially, my original vision of a regularly collaborative website had given way to it pretty much being a solo effort with the occasional assist. That's not me pinning any blame on any co-collaborators; life gets in the way, and I imagine all felt the shifting of priorities and loss of enthusiasm that I myself have felt. But as my own life became busier, and as I aged, and changed locations, then careers, etc., I tried to keep this blog active even as my capacity for 'original' content, thoughtful reviews and analyses, etc. dwindled. For a while, that felt possible, but increasingly in recent years, that dynamic has manifested itself in the vast majority of the content on this blog simply being the templated weekly content such as SNL Scorecards or Premier League match predictions, with the occasional spurt of activity around year-end "best of" rankings and Oscar season. That was a trend that was laid bare to me again as I turned back the years for favorite op-eds in the last fortnight: the pickings got slimmer and slimmer post-pandemic. As we hit the 10-year mark, I feel as if I've reached a nadir in my will to keep this going, and to see it as a joyous venture rather than an obligation.

I've loved having this space to dump all my college football daydreams and music hot takes onto. I have loved even more so seeing and hearing the excitement from friends who read it, and who reached out to ask if maybe I would consider letting them write a thinkpiece on Maroon 5's unlikely staying power, or a weekly breakdown on smart sports betting moves, or a serial interviewing friends about their favorite movie and then reviewing said movie for themselves. Even though the fantasy that popped into my head when I was first getting this free website from Wix and loading it with Micah's awesome logo and graphic design ideas, of this becoming the next "big thing" and perhaps becoming a full-time career venture didn't come to fruition, the more earthbound desire of what this blog could be was fully realized. I've gotten all I could ever want from it, and I think it deserves better than to slowly die out into stale regurgitations of semi-regular content and become something I treat like homework rather than passion project.

So, this is goodbye for now. And I want to clarify: it is goodbye just for now.

I think, at least. This website isn't going anywhere, so if you feel an inclination to come back and peruse through an old piece you loved, or see how poorly so many of my bold Oscar/Grammy/Premier League/college football predictions aged, you still can. I know I will. And I do think there's a good chance this will not be the final piece on this blog, either! Perhaps it won't even be that long until creative juices begin flowing again, and life calms down a little, or I finally get medicated for the attention deficit disorder I assume I have, or I feel the unstoppable urge to blast my Oscar opinions far and wide again. We'll see.

What's that saying? "This isn't a period, it's a comma"? Think of it that way: a significant comma in this blog's web presence. Or at most, a semicolon. In the meantime, know that my appreciation for all of you that helped collaborate on original content or on graphic design, that pitched ideas for pieces that would be fun to read, that shared links on your social media accounts, and simply showed up to this website to read and to sign up for newsletters, is immeasurable. I love you all very much.

Long live The Couch!

Daniel Woodiwiss

Blog Founder/CEO "Most Likely To Brighten Your Day" Senior Superlative, 2012