No More Power Down :) [Hell of a Year]
This is my story about my last 15 months and read it all before making your own judgement. My followers love me or hate me, there is nothing between. If you like the story you can give me your upvote, but if you don't like it, I will be very happy if you read it and comment!
When I came on Steemit in July 2016, I had awesome job.
I didn't need any additional source of money and I just wanted to pump my Steem Power. I always believed in Steem and blogging here became fun to me. I discovered that I have skills that I never knew about, Steemit helped me to understand the crypto world and think about future. In that period of life, everything was great about me. Me and my girlfriend (now wife) started to renovate our apartment, a little nest just for two of us. I had some savings and I invested in music studio equipment for needs of my band. Tokens that I got by blogging here were not seen as money at all. Great feedback and growing number of my followers was the most important thing for me.
Life is all about unpredictable changes.
Sometimes, it will drain the last drops of your blood, sweat and tears just to test how strong you are.
In October 2016 things started to turn bad. My band made self-released album and it was on local radio stations for some time. I was too honest during some interview on local radio station and spoke publicly about some delicate things, so tomorrow morning I lost my very precious job. I took a free week to get some rest and clear my mind.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://imgur.com/uhnOlbKl.jpg)
At that time, the price of Steem became very low.
It was always between 0.11$ and 0.17$, so when you got 10$ reward for your blog, you would get 4 SBD and more than 30 Steem Power after the payout. Kinda hard to imagine that now, isn't it?
It was very difficult for me to find a new job, so I worked things that were below my education and status. I was a substitute teacher for few weeks and a substitute educator for grownups for a month. I didn't work longer than 4 hours per week and those salaries were really funny. But my life didn't wait for me to gain financial stability again, shits started to happen very fast. It was like "shit season" a chain reaction of bad events. A trouble never comes alone, so I had to change brakes and tires on my car. Our apartment still wasn't finished, we had to change some plumbings we were still paying for our furniture. My dog got health issues and veterinarians are not cheap here. Then I had to pay the technical inspection of my car and I didn't have enough money to pay my phone bill. I signed the contract with telecommunication company for that phone while I still had that awesome job and had to pay the most of those monthly installments after I lost it.
My girlfriend got pregnant in November 2016.
If you are familiar with conditions in the hospital in my city, you would know that the best choice is to go to private clinics for this kind of examinations. So we had to pay the gynecologist every two-three weeks. After nine years of relationship we decided to get married and guess what: it costs as hell!
Then I made one of the biggest mistakes in my life:
I took a loan from the bank!
And I couldn't pay it every month. The bank closed my account and I bankrupted. The last New Year's Eve was the poorest in my life.
We got married in February 2017 and got some money from our guests. Would you believe that in February 2017 the price of Steem reached it's bottom of 7 cents. If I was clever, I would invest all that money in Steem and in June I would be a rich man. But who knew what will happen in next months?
We used the money that we got to finish all works in our apartment.
At least we succeeded to finish one thing that we started. But many new expenses were just showing up day by day. We knew that we will need baby stroller, cot, many other things that will be needed wen baby comes... We desperate needed new car also, a bigger one that can fit for a family.
I was very eager to find a new job and things started to get better for me but the job found me.
I don't know which spiritual force made me to knock on doors of that office in April 2017, but I am still in that office, at the moment, I am writing this post from that office! I was very happy with my new job, with my new bosses that are actually normal people. My work is serious and important, I met many people here and learned some useful things. And I started to get good money for that job, but my bank was always taking 33% percent from me because of the loan and bankrupt. We had enough to live normally but not for baby stroller, cot, new car, some things for a baby that was on the way...
I was very worried about our future and I talked to a friend and he told me that I don't have any rights to complain since I had 10000 Steem Power!
And the price of Steem started to grow, it reached almost 3$ in June 2017... and I clicked on that Power Down button...
I hated myself because of that! But we needed a lot of money and it had to be done. I couldn't sleep by nights watching my Steem Power going lower and lower. I lost some people that constantly upvoted me, even some that I considered as my Steemit friends. Some started to think that I stopped to believe in Steem and that was wrong! Steemit went trough many changes also, many new users came and they started to get rewards every day and I was on the way down.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://imgur.com/LAxdBuwl.jpg)
The half of my Steem Power helped me to buy a car, a new computer and all that we needed for the baby.
On this morning I finished with all of my debts.
I am so happy that I am out of the bankruptcy now, my bank account was re-opened just two hours ago!
And I stopped Power Down!
And there is no reason to start new Power Down again!
I finally brought my life back top normal and I am staring to blog here from the beginning! It will not be easy like a year ago because the price of Steem is much higher and I don't get so awesome rewards every day, so... please, don't think bad about me! I work much harder on Steemit than the most of those who get much higher rewards than me. I still believe in Steem and I love Steemit very much! I will continue with my hard work. Now is the time for me to save my Steem Power and try to earn more!
I can't say for sure what future will bring but I will definitely not Power Down for at least next 9 months. Thank you!
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://imgur.com/RmcuS1Ql.jpg)
Your followers love you..
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.pinimg.com/564x/6c/bd/09/6cbd094a89359698c8f47c30f87fdfb8--rib-tattoos-sweet-tattoos.jpg)
I am so Sad after I read your story..
Happy that you are out of the bankruptcy now and you stopped Power Down!
THE SUN WILL RISE AGAIN.
@lordoftruth
One of your steemit friends..
Thank you! You became a type of Steemer I always knew you will!
With your support and advice.
By the way your post was resteemed for the great content.
Thank you again, I appreciate it!
I was the first steemain that I wrote
"Happy to be one of the Big Steemit Family"
&
"You are never left alone"
and I mean it and I hope that your steemit friends to feel how I feel !
Hey man that was quite a story. Sorry to hear you went through bad times : (
Funny and not funny how bad times come all at once. To lose your job over a comment on a radio interview was really a shitty thing.
Followers abandoning you is also shitty. Sadly, it does seem we are living in a more fickle world these days.
PersonalIy I think you are a great guy and Steemit should be glad to have you.
I might not always vote on your post my friend but the only reason is because I have not been on Steemit for a few days. Otherwise I always look out for your posts because they either make me think or then make me smile.
I am rather touched by your honesty in tell of your story my friend and be sure to know that as long as I am on Steemit I will alway upvote your posts.
I too have experienced followers who used to upvote me and then abandoned me when I was not on Steemit for a while because I was ill in hospital.
These days I am on a mission to fid genuine folk who have a bit more to them than merely wanting to make a quick buck
Be my good fellow, you did not give up. Whatever does not destroy us makes us stronger.
100% upvote
I don't know what to say on this kind of comments :) Thank you for that, but thank you more on understanding my words and sharing my opinion. I hope that your health is fine now. Regards from Croatia
Powering down really helped you when you were I need, so you shouldn't regret.
We all do mistakes along the lines but at least we've learned our lesson. I was one of the few people who knew about bitcoin since December 2009, I had thousands of dollars that I can use to but it because I believed in it, but unfortunately I didn't because I was discouraged by friends. Now I buy nearly every coin I believe in. Lesson learned.
Your baby looks awesome.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Thank you! And never let the environment to suppress your decisions
Thanks,lesson Learned.
Why would anyone think bad of you, for doing what you had to do?I am starting to feel I'm wasting my time in steemit lately. I have almost 400 followers and very few drop into my blog. I just posted a personal story about how I got my 3 cats. Only got 3 up votes, you @dumar022 were one, thank you. Seems to me I have shit content or most of the 400 only care about themselves. I think it's mostly the 2nd reason. I know, must keep trying. Just hitting a low spot, but very discouraging. Gl;ad things have turned around for you. Your daughter and wife are the best things in your life. They would be for me.
Yes they are!
Many people here has much worse content than you but they do good networking and post promotions on steemit.chat and discord channels... that seems to be the half of the work. the same if you pay randowhale or booster in first few minutes of posting can attract others to upvote you! You are doing fine work here, but you have to be patient, your time will come.
I see many bad posts here with huge rewards and so many great and funny posts earning cents... you are not alone, but everything change many times and it can be easy to get from the bottom to the top if you are persistent enough.
I understand it's not so much what you know to get ahead but who you know. I never was one to join clubs just to make friends to gain favors. @dumar022 it's not the money for me. I'd rather have 19 upvotes and 10 cents. Than 1 upvote and 10 dollars. You would think out of 400 so called followers I could get 10 people just to look at what I posted. I think I'll reply more and post less. Thank you for caring enough to reply.
I started similar way as you. So I will support you because you are not a complainer, you hate that way of self promotion and upvote beggars as much as I do. All I made here, I made it only on Steemit. By posting my thoughts. But today is different and it's easier to new ones because they didn't get used to the old system.
So good to hear you fought through this and am now out of bankruptcy
As for powering down thatvwas your choice and what you needed to do at the time and really should be no one else’s business
Cheers
I prefer to let people to do what thjey want with their money... but they also choose whom to upvote! Thank you!
This was a pretty touching story, I like knowing that you found yourself at a low point and Steemit was able to help you back up. The fact that power downs can be stopped is reassuring to know that we can choose, and change our minds when we find our situation has improved. The fact that the Steem price was far lower back then again reinforces how well us new guys actually have it.
To get your Steempower that high must've taken a lot of effort, more than I can imagine, and powering down in a way made you feel like you were watching your accomplishments vanish.
That's good to hear that things are going better and the debts are paid. Have yourself a great day c:
Thank you, this is a nice comment! Happy steemin
i did not know that bro - i assume having a new baby would have made some of those previous heartaches hopefully seem maybe less relevant - i love reading your posts about your life - onwards and upwards buddy
Thank you @kiwiscanfly! I appreciate it!
Sve je to život! :)
Balkano vs ovrhe
I don't see why anybody would have a problem with your story. I imagine things were hard for you all, but you made it! It's great that you had the Steem money to use when you needed it so bad. The only thing that really matters is that cute baby of yours!
I thought that nobody has nothing to do with my power down but my experiences showed me that I was wrong. Thank you
Good job @dumar022
Thanks!