LIFESTYLES & STEEM - Small Contributions + Large numbers = BIG CHANGE!

I have spent much time at my dads place reflecting on his financial success and the sacrifices it required along the way in order for him to get there. In fact, as a family - we have often laughed at his statements regarding crypto and the fact that he had set himself into a better financial situation with crypto in five years than he did in a lifetime of building a property portfolio... makes you really think about the "roads to freedom" doesn't it...

There was a post I wrote shortly after joining Steem called Calculators to Crypto which holds a special story regarding the above (as well as special significance to me because it was one of my only ever MASSIVELY Curied posts haha) feel free to read the post itself - but there is a specific excerpt I would like to take from it, which was a "story" from my dad - so I am going to copy it verbatim.

During our evening last night, my dad made mention of how so many of us “youngsters” simply lack perspective. We See things as they are and that is all we see – because that is all we know. This turned into a very interesting story as he began to describe just what he meant by “perspective”. Before getting into the crunch of the story, he reminded us that when he was at school there weren’t even calculators. That statement alone makes a person think!

(Yip, that little boy is my dad...) - My dad has been self-employed since as far back as I can remember and he has accomplished much with his life. He started his story about how running a business back then, consumed literally all of your time because if you were not present, the cogs stopped turning. Apart from the fact that at that time there were no cell phones, there were no fax machines – there was nothing but a telephone. When you did your banking - you wrote a million cheques and then you got into your car and you drove to the bank and stood in queues. If you needed to speak to a supplier whilst on the road you would have to find a pay phone to call them...

(Us back in the day, and yes, that little pork chop is me. hehe) How very different things were! He went on to tell us about when car phones (I think they were called car phones) came out and how he was one of the first to get one locally. He explained how utterly liberating that was because he could now be away from the office whilst still being able to communicate with them. He joked about how he would have to drive up to the top of the hill where our holiday house was situated, so that he could get signal to make calls, haha! Time went on, as time does and then came cell phones, internet and the whole bang shoot!

He was illustrating the point that through his life’s journey he has seen so many phases of change and his world has literally done a 180. We don’t have that same level of perspective, because we were born into this age. We continued to discuss how a few years ago, things like Steemit (as it was JUST Steemit at the time) did not exist. Things like crypto currency did not exist – and their now existence is changing the face of the world. - “We literally have the world at our fingertips” he said.

Everything he said was absolutely spot on! If we are smart enough to educate ourselves in the right spheres, we no longer have to answer to anyone or sit through a 9 to 5 job in order to support ourselves and our families. This is SO very true! We have a world of possibility at our disposal… we just need to see it. As with most things my dad talks about, he was very passionate in this conversation. I think largely because this “virtual world” has opened his eyes greatly to the limitless possibilities.

“I don't want to live in the kind of world where we don't look out for each other. Not just the people that are close to us, but anybody who needs a helping hand. I cant change the way anybody else thinks, or what they choose to do, but I can do my bit.”
― charles de lint

And this brings me back to the point of this post...

Whilst driving Jude to school this morning, I began looking around me at all the human traffic… People in their cars on their way to work, people jumping into taxis, people walking their kids to school or walking themselves to work – everyone was so RUSHED! There was one mother and daughter… the daughter looked like she had literally been dragged out of bed and thrown into her school uniform. Her hair looked like a birds nest and the mom was practically dragging her down the road.

Wednesday is a particularly early start for Jude at school because he does has vocal ensemble – and getting him up so much earlier on these days is a real challenge. He is always that much moodier and more tired… and we only have to do that once a week. Yes, the other mornings are early too, but not as early as a Wednesday.

What struck me though, was that this is everybody’s NORM - this is the hamster wheel that we all jump onto every day (in varying degrees). Watching all of this transpire around me, I could not help but wonder to myself how different the scene around me would look if people were not forced into existing just to make ends meat.

There would be no pressure – no ”go go go”, no obligation to make earnings so the day that lay ahead of all of us would be filled with so much freedom and potential and no doubt a lot more passion and enthusiasm. We could go out and have fun with our kids, spend quality time with them – getting to really know the little people that they are. We could become creative in our own rights as to how and where we would spend our hours. People would be happier, less stressed - the list goes on.

I always had quite a lot of time flexibility, having been a business owner, and now blogging full time and engaging with all of you lovely folk hehe, I have even more of that - yet even with that amount at my disposal, I still struggle to fit in everything I need to into a 24 hour period, while still attempting to find quality time for my family and for myself. And on this basis, I have often looked at the men and women who work in the local supermarkets. They only finish work at 6.30pm (or later) and then most of them still have to take public transport to get home… so they probably arrive home at about 7.45pm…. Jude is normally getting ready for bed at that time, or we are chilling on the couch together. Homework has long since been completed, supper eaten and that is our little bit of quality time. But those men and women haven’t even started cooking dinner yet… and what of the child’s homework – and even more so, what about quality time together as a family...to just BE!

So the child gets to bed late, so does the parent – they both wake up exhausted and then jump back on the wheel again! How utterly sad that this is what our existence has been diminished to – all because we are slaves to money!

Steem is an avenue that can change that for people. It has for me - no it does not cover all of my expenses but it covers some of them. since making the decision to walk away from my business my life as well as my financial obligations are a LOT less complicated, so really speaking... I don't need much to cover my bases and I would not change it for the world! This could be the case for everyone involved in Steem. The reason I am bringing this up is to highlight the importance of EVERYONE on this platform in helping one another. We are all one team in this world… we are all the slaves and if we work together, we can change that for ALL of us! - which to my mind, has always been the driving force behind the development of this "space".

So, no matter where you are on the food chain here - let’s start making a bigger effort to help one another! The quality and course of all our "lifestyles" can be greatly improved if we behave like a team and look out for one another rather than backbiting and engaging in other destructive behaviours... our energies would be better placed toward more positive things.

I think people (in general) underestimate the enormous power of a united collective. Most walk around (here and in the 3D world) assuming that their voice and action alone will have absolutely no impact but what they fail to consider is just how MANY people are walking around thinking exactly that! Put all those people together and believe me, you would be witness to the most mind blowing Mexican wave you have ever seen!

We ALL know where to start around here - and not unlike a beach clean up it starts with picking up the first piece of trash and denoting effort to preserving the beauty of the surrounding nature. So let's make an effort to do that - TOGETHER!

There are SO many of us (including myself) that make concerted efforts to uplift the genuine content efforts around here - what are you doing to add to that? (And no, I am not referring simply to resteems) - I think we should all make more of an effort to post highlights for the great things we have read and on the same hand the abusers of the system could also be brought into the limelight in a similar manner because most of us have become so nauseated by the trending page that we don't even visit it anymore and often miss the posts which are unjustly sitting at the top of that feed.

If you adopt a slightly creative approach, there really are countless ways in which we could tidy up and improve thing around here so that the people deserving of it - start seeing the light of the day and the time wasters get shoved to the bottom of the pile - but the fact remains... this can only happen if we all work together and in turn, this will only happen if everyone focuses on the bigger picture - that being - creating a better life and lifestyle for all!

Well, that is my opinion anyway... :)

There is no power in the world that can stop the forward march of free men and women when they are joined in the solidarity of human brotherhood.- Walter Reuther