Knowing when to quit

There comes a time when you realise that you are insisting on things that no longer make sense to you. It's either due to an over-inflated sense of responsibility, or because you want to prove something to yourself and/or to other people, but the fact is you no longer feel any joy, or spontaneity about what you are doing. You are just going through the motions. I felt that happen to me during the past year, and that's when I decided it was time to confront what was no longer working for me, and let it go.

As a consequence of this realisation, I ended up closing the PCO Discord server, which I created back in 2022. It was difficult decision, but one that had been months in the making for me. The truth is that ever since Ana Cortez moved on to her own platform, interest and engagement in the Discord server plummeted. Many people were (rightfully) disappointed with the shift, to the point of giving up entirely on the community. The server became mostly a place where members played with the bots and little else, so, on the 25 of July 2025, I closed it for good.

Even though it felt like a weight had been taken off my shoulder, I was still sad about the end. I had high hopes for that server and, for a while, it seemed like it would take off... but it didn't. Ana was the binding element, but even when she was around it never really became a close-knit group, like some other servers I am a part of. And I believe that collectives must grow organically – you can create a group, but you cannot force it to become a real community.

Nevertheless, it was a worthy experiment, and I am grateful to all members who joined and shared their Playing Card Oracles knowledge and experience.