The Impact of The Blockchain

January 29th will mark 2 years for me here on the Steem Blockchain. When I started here, I had no clue what was in store for me or the impact that this place would have on me.

So first off, let's start with what brought me here to Steem. I was listening to some YouTube channels related to crypto and they mentioned Steem and how you can earn buy blogging and sharing stuff like Instagram and YouTube, so I figured I would check it out.

I was never big into social media or any of that, but I had just been getting into photography and was looking for ways to branch out and share my work with the world, so I figured that the Steem Blockchain would be a pretty good place to do that.

^{Photo by me @derangedvisions}

I shared this photo, along with a few other ones, in my Introduction Post. I got a couple replies on there, but not much of a welcoming. This was even before the bots spammed all of the intro posts, so newcomers had a pretty hard time back then. But I persevered and kept posting, bought Steem and powered up, and became and active part of the community.

Now that last part brings me to one of the most important parts of my journey here on Steem.

The Community

If it weren't for the community, I would have left a long time ago, regardless of the rewards that I had been making, which really aren't worth the time that I put into the blockchain. I think a lot of community members can relate to that one.

I have met so many awesome people here and made some friends here that I would have never come across without Steem. I have friends from all over the world, which is a truly amazing thing because my wife and I can travel pretty much anywhere and have someone to meet up with for drinks and some good food.

Speaking of traveling, I have had the opportunity to go to Steemfest 3 and Steemfest 4.

^{Photo by me @derangedvisions}

Steemfest 3 in Krakow was such a cool experience. When I met the other Steemians that were attending, it was like meeting family because we had all known each other for a while already. Those that I had never met before were awesome too because we all had something in common and that was a love for Steem and for crypto, so it was really easy for everyone to strike up conversations and get along with each other.

^{Photo by me @derangedvisions}

Steemfest 4 in Thailand was an even better experience, not only because I got to see so many friends from the previous Steemfest and meet new ones, but I was able to bring my wife with me this time. Without Steem, I highly doubt that my wife and I would have taken the time to go to Thailand and have such an amazing time together.

A more personal experience

The Steem Blockchain has had a more personal impact on me as well, one that I don't really talk much about. As a creative, I struggle with issues of self doubt and inadequacy and often feel that my work isn't good enough to share with the world and the majority of it gets deleted and never seen by anyone but me.

^{Photo by me @derangedvisions}

Steem and the community here has helped to push me to share more of my content and has motivated me. Everyone here has helped to quell those voices of self doubt in my head and help me to see my work in a more positive light.

One other thing that has happened since starting here is that I have learned that I am somewhat of a writer as well and every now and then, the crazy shit that is swirling around in my head can be pretty entertaining for some when I write it down. I have never really considered myself a writer, but with the encouragement of people here and the fact that this is pretty much a blogging type of a platform, I am sort of forced to write more, which has in turn, helped to improve my skills.

I can honestly say that since being a member of Steem, my creativity level has gone up immensely. This is due to the fact that I am forced to create new content, and there are so many talented people here to learn from and be inspired from. There really is a wealth of knowledge here on the platform and we can all learn a bit of something from each other to help make ourselves better.

In closing

I have made some great friends here over the past 2 years and been a part of some pretty amazing things. There are a lot of projects out there that are trying to do what the Steem Blockchain has been doing, but I honestly don't think that they can compare with what we have. We have some pretty awesome things coming out this year that will elevate our blockchain even further.

I am excited to see what our community does over the next few years and I am excited to continue to build relationships with people across the globe. Thanks for stopping by and reading about my Steem journey. You are awesome.

10% Beneficiary set to @sbdpotato