This is a continuation of my post last night on what keeps us staying on Steem, and from a little more of a personal perspective for the Why I Am Still Here initiative being run by @theycallmedan.

I have been on the Steem Blockchain for a little over three years, but more precisely. 37 months, 161 weeks and 1127 days. While this isn't a long time in human years, Steem years are more similar to dog years and therefore, I am eligible to drink and vote on the blockchain - although I have always given the warning - never drink and blockchain - Yet that has been more a "do as I say, not as I do" kind of situation. Just remember, immutable.

So, I have been here awhile, but not from the start of the chain. I think that if I had been a 2016er, I would have been able to make more of an impact than I have, but I am content with my journey so far, but it has taken some work. I am a strong advocate for working smarter and harder, and think that being able to work for stake is an amazing opportunity. Without that opportunity, I wouldn't be here.

The reason is that when I joined, the little girl in the sled above, as well as my wife, were struggling with their health and we had a lot of monthly expenses to cover and not enough time in 24 hours for me to work and care for them. Steem was a Hail Mary attempt to close some financial gaps, but I soon discovered it was never going to do that and as a result, I haven't used Steem or crypto as an earner at all. What I did use Steem for was,

The opportunity.

Steem has opened up several gateways into areas that I had never been able to spend time or resources on before, with the most obvious being the chance at investment. This is where I headed after realizing that weekly earnings on Steem through my content creation weren't going to pay for my coffee, let alone specialist doctors.

As a result, I chose to go long. Rather than throw the Hail Mary for a TD, I would be the receiver and run as hard as I can downfield. With no way to get there except for through my content, I started creating, and this is a gateway that surprised me. I knew I could write, but as a terrible student and not a fan of putting my life on social media, I didn't realize how much I could write, nor how much I would enjoy the process.

With so much happening in my life at the time, Steem became my confidante, the silent witness and record of my life and thoughts, and the cave wall that would tell my stories for others to consume, learn from or ridicule, as the case may be. And I wrote and still do. Daily.

Out of the 161 weeks I have been on Steem, I have seen that comment 153 of them. That means that I have only failed to create a post on a day during 8 weeks of my time here. And that includes the downtimes of the chain after Hardforks that go awry.

Out of the 37 months on Steem, I have produced at least one post every day of the month for 34 of them. And I haven't missed a day since mid-2017. As I said above,

I didn't realize how much I could write, nor how much I would enjoy the process.

I really enjoy writing and while I am going long and glad that there is the opportunity to work my way into owning my position on Steem, owning my stake, owning the digital real estate I value, if I didn't enjoy the process of what I do - I wouldn't do it. Those who have made being on Steem a job by working only for reward, have chosen the hardest path of all and I believe that many will burn out or drift away, as we have seen over the last two years of the bear markets.

Jobs are designed for regular pay, to work 40 hours a week at an unloved position for a salary to cover the expenses of life and hopefully a little extra for pleasure and a comfortable retirement. It is not a risk seeking position and is therefore, not the position of the entrepreneur who is looking to build for the future. Building for an unknown is always risky, which is why so few truly invest.

Most take the path of do what others do, as there is safety in numbers, yet average results. When the group fails, it is easier to accept because the group failed together. And this is where Steem has an edge, as while investing is a solitary process, Steem brings in the direct community aspect and the transparency of action toward a common goal.

Remembering that Steem resides in a burgeoning technical industry with a great deal of uncertainty and volatility, the community is one of risk takers. And over the last 2 years the core of those looking long has built to become a mass of risk takers who understand that failure is an option, but are willing to work the unseen path still. For me, this is attractive, this is compelling, this is trailblazing and exploring a new digital world and economy that is opening up beneath our feet and can be created into what we have never known before.

I have said for many a dark moon, Steem is about the ownership of experience, and while some think this is about life on chain, accounts, STEEM and staking, it is not how I see it. The ownership of experience on Steem is personal as being here brings into the spotlight our skills and weaknesses and gives a place of self-reflection, cross-referenced with the experiences of others in ways that are normally hidden from public conversation.

On Steem, I get to take part in what I wouldn't otherwise. Talk about things I would not except with my closest friends, contribute my thoughts and contents that I wouldn't otherwise. Steem incentivizes us to put more of ourselves into the community and to be our best. Part of this is of course the financial potential, but it is also that on Steem, there is a community of like minds who are all approaching the economy from a different position, a personal perspective and the way they interact and transact on the blockchain tells their story and adds to the collective. And just like the "real world" of life, not everyone has the best interests of the future at heart.

This in itself is empowering for users, as while most people try to avoid conflict, there is the opportunity to take responsibility for our space and place and do what one feels they must to keep the environment clean, keep it functioning, keep it growing. So much of our daily activities have been outsourced to authorities for convenience and so that we do not have to face the dirt and grime of life, safe zones. And because of this, those authorities overreach and start to take more for themselves than what they offer in return.

Responsibility.

This is what Steem offers every user. Opt-in or Opt-out. Take it or leave it. Everyone here has the opportunity to take the responsibility for their own actions and behavior, their own content and comments, their own investment in or extraction out. Some do all they can to avoid the responsibility of their own experience on Steem and perhaps this indicates that the similar might happen in life as well.

As I see it, none of us are victims on Steem as well have the possibility to act freely, say as we please and live the consequences of our actions - for better or worse. People may be comfortable living a life with their every move controlled by an authority, a culture, a religion. but I am not and Steem offers me a place to build afresh, a new start, a new life, a new way forward into the future - and while my path might not be one for everyone, it offers the flexibility for every single user to take their own and build their own place on digital real estate that has the possibility to continually expand outward - if we take the responsibility to build it.

You go your way, I'll go mine - and perhaps we will end up walking together for a few blocks.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]