Reflections on 4 Years in this Community
It feels like I've been way too busy to write anything lately and maybe on some level it's true, but I also can't readily forget how I got started here and where I came from. I got the notification today that I've been part of the community for four years now and it's pretty crazy how fast that time has gone by and just how much I've evolved as a person along with the platform.
When I first arrived, I wasn't in a good place at all. I think the argument could be made that I was in the midst of a full on mental breakdown and trying to figure out how to survive with any kind of semblance of sanity. I started off using Steemit as a mental health journal while I tried to work though many unresolved issues in my life and all of those posts still live on somewhere many blocks back from this one, and while I wasn't really expecting much to come out of it, I knew I had to get the thoughts out of my head because they were eating me alive.
During that process I found a community that welcomed and encouraged me and I met many people that I consider friends to this day and I also learned a lot of skills that helped me to manage existing in a world that I never understood and felt never understood me. In a sense, throughout my experience here I managed to stop viewing myself as something completely separate from the rest of existence and realized that I am part of a much larger whole that I previously couldn't even comprehend.
Throughout this journey I've done many things that I didn't think I could before arriving, like writing enough posts to fill several books if I wanted, writing enough poetry to learn how to express myself in a way that I could at least understand myself, started many projects and completed some of them, and even made a video game somewhere in there.
While all of that was great and a huge learning experience that helped me to build self confidence and awareness along with many valuable life skills, I think the most important thing that I've learned has to be the ability to embrace my own authenticity and communicate effectively with others. Life doesn't seem anywhere near as hard when not existing in a world of isolation and self-abusive behaviors.
It's been a hell of a ride, but honestly I think it's just getting started. The community breaking away from centralized ownership and gaining its own autonomy is simply the most amazing thing we could have accomplished in my opinion. Maybe it's not all perfect and it isn't all rainbows and butterflies, but what in life is? We all suffer in some way, why not suffer in ways that better ourselves and others while appreciating the contrast? I don't think it will be easy, but I think HIVE has a real shot of succeeding where STEEM couldn't.
I'm glad to be a part of carrying the community forward and I'm just as involved if not more than I ever was before in growing this community to help create some positive impact in a world that often feels harsh, uncaring, and very unfair. At the end of the day, it is what it is. Where we choose to put our energy and attention is important in helping to create the world that we want to exist in and see come to fruition. With a little faith and a lot of hard work, I think we can get there.
Much love.
Well said. Congrats on four years.
Thanks dude!
It's the people that make this place what it is.
Thank you for doing a ton for the cummunity. Many are grateful
I'm just doing my best to give back as much as it gave to me. :)
I remember you were one of the first people I found here! I loved your musings and self reflections. Still do! You were one of the people who kept me here during the bidbot nonsense
It's definitely been a bumpy road and there have been some tense moments of extreme ideological differences, but I think we're stronger for working through them and getting to where we are today. There will always be opportunistic people, but I think the culture has shifted quite a bit from that time at least.
We decide if this place works out or not!
Congratulations and all the best with all that is to come.
Thanks! One way or another, we're all in this thing together. I'm excited to see where it goes.
Four years. That is amazing. You've traveled many miles, and have had an amazing journey. Thanks for sharing your story, @clayboyn. Healing, I believe, comes from really looking at what's eating us up inside and bringing it on out for examination - out in the light of day where it can't lurk and fester like Gollum with its nasty secrets.
When people ask me why I love Hive so much, I tell them that it's not like most social media, which seems to cause a lot of people more heartache and loneliness; instead it's where you can be real. There's something so freeing in that. And I've had numerous people tell me they are more comfortable sharing things here than on Facebook where family and long-time friends have certain knowledge or expectations of them. You're right, it's not all rainbows and butterflies, but that's okay. It's way cool.
It's definitely a special place unlike any other that I've found. The ability to empower people to earn for their content is just a nice bonus to me.
There are several great benefits of being here. It’s a little different for everyone as to which aspect is most important and motivating!
Funny thing is, Steem/HIve started off as escape, and therapy, and grew to be something more. And the impact it had on me, and the confidence it gave me, and the love it renewed in me for awesome and great people, gives me power in the real world too.
Hive will always take up my energy, and it's welcome to it - I've loved nearly every minute (aside from a few assholes, and politics, as I learnt to be thicker skinned and learnt strategies to deal with it) of it, and am proud to be a Hiver.
congrats on 4 years - that's awesome.
It's awesome how many people have had major positive impact in their life due to the platform and community. It definitely brings me a lot of joy.
I think its given many of us more than we thought. The fact some us have stayed so long is a real testament to what joy we get from it!
An incredible reflection that motivates me to keep finding myself in everyday writing and finding great people who raise my energy. Congratulations!
Congratulations on your four years. Thanks for all you do for the community. I saw your commitment come through when we worked together in @msp-makeaminnow.
I think Hive has a great future potential but that future only happens with community people such as yourself. Here's to another four years.
Thanks ET, I plan to rock this thing till the wheels fall off... of me or it lol. Hopefully another 40 years? Time will tell.
What an online-life testimony! I'm glad you found the things you needed the most in here during those hard times. Things don't happen by accident, and of course poetry can work marvels for expressing and understanding ourselves. Thanks for sharing your experience; it is a lift up message.