The beginning of my Journey to Manhood

Hello Steemers and Steemerettes,

Back in 2010, I was unhappy. I had no real plan for life, could not get further than a second date and had a job that was boring. It payed well, but mostly I was sitting around, waiting for customers to come in.

A Tale of despair

I spent all day on Facebook. When I was not trying to raise some crops, I read status updates and other meaningless stuff.
However, my recurring negative thoughts about my troubled childhood or myself would never cease to end. In addition, my success with women was usually just by luck. I am good looking but that does not always get you in.

I remember a very embarrassing first date. It actually went quite well until it was time to part ways. I started to say stupid things like "I'm always there for you" and became increasingly creepy and clingy. She -of course- never returned any of my calls.
After being drunk and indulging in self-pity for over two weeks, I was so angry with myself. There had to be a solution how to get more action.
As usual, the internet provided me with a solution. The Art of being a Pick Up Artist.

Yes, yes, before you roll your eyes: Treating women like shit and negging all day does not make you a PUA.

Pick Up Artist or How I learned to love myself

This strange community intrigued me. Strange vocabulary like Bitch Shield and many forum pages to read seemed overwhelming at first. I went to the beginners section and found the Don Juan Boot Camp. Sounds ridiculous, right?
At first, I thought so too. Nevertheless, it was a well-crafted eight Week Challenge to overcome your fears. I first learned to get my priorities right.
What do I want from women in general? What am I looking for? How do I want to be remembered?
Most importantly: Do you have a code?

I really did not but I would find my code later on in my journey.
First, I went out on the street and talked to people, not just women. After that, I talked to women. Then I went on dates. Then I had lots of sex.
This sounds quite quick, but it took me over a year to get to the point where I could go out and have sex the same night.
The road was paved with hideous rejections, crying and lots and many rejections. I had to refine my game every time. I worked like a lunatic on my skills. Speech patterns, wide ranging conversational topics, body contact, subliminal gestures, face reading. I learned all these quite difficult skills in the hardest way possible with instant feedback.

A man without principles is merely a boy

Since I did not have a code, I was not able to grasp my full potential and therefore prolonged my progress becoming a man.
In 2011, I started digging the Internet and found Anarchy.
Well I found Stephan Molyneux. I did not knew he was an anarchist.
He talked about overcoming your experiences and hardships by applying universally preferable behavior (UPB).
This led me to anarchy, the power of the Non-Aggression Principle and personal responsibility.

My previous experiences made sense now. Surrounded by indirect violence. Everything had a price; no one really loved me unconditionally. I had to sever my ties with everyone who was keeping me down. I canned my parents, bad friends and superfluous acquaintances. In addition, I quit Facebook.

A long story short: I dug further into Stephan Molyneux' writings and videos and found even more Anarchy.
Mises.org, lewrockwell.com, dailyanarchist.com, freiwilligfrei.de and many more.
I had my code. Women were never difficult again. I enter a bar, heads turn. I start talking, the attention shifts instantly to me.

However, as with all your wishes, this is not as fulfilling as you might think. So I kept searching and became the most radical thing one could ever become Full-blown Ancap.
The state was my sworn enemy and I (again) became depressed because I could not make a change.

The Bitcoin rabbit hole

One day, I browsed lewrockwell and found an article from dollarvigilante. It featured the Ab-Soul hit Terrorist Threats.

_{"I'm just tryin' to be free, I ain't gonna be nobody’s chattel"}
Unfortunately, I'm unable to find the article right now, but it talked about bitcoins I think.
Bitcoin turned the mere "We might end the state someday" into "The state will go down in my lifetime!".

I do not have a good recollection of this time, because I was still drinking and partying hard. However, I started with my first 0,1 Bitcoin after watching an ad on some faucet site. That was mid-2011.
It was worth almost nothing, and I thought "Well that's nice. What else can I do?"

Therefore, I started mining. With my CPU.
Even at that time, my CPU did not bring in much, so short after I started buying bitcoin at 4€ per coin. The price had already doubled since I watched ads. I was very active on bitcoin.org, digesting every article, learning about the beauty of decentralization.

One of my most funny learnings was how to send cash via mail.
I had a person, who would trade anonymously. I wrapped the money in a Wikipedia article about carbohydrates (about 4 pages) and put them into an envelope.
Yes, my dear readers, this is all you need to fool the scanning of an envelope. Four pages of printed text!

What scams taught me

Then I experimented with the GLBSE or Global Bitcoin Stock Exchange. I lost like 2-5 Bitcoins on that. As you might know, it was a fraud. The person ran with the money. I think. I did not really bother researching because it was like 20€ or something.
It was my first and only time I have been scammed. I was now vigilant.

Later, the Pirate Ponzi Scheme on bitcoin.org unfolded. That person claimed he would pay out 20% interest per week.
I did not invest because it was obviously a scam. Hilariously, I watched how some people were drooling with greed to press more out of a coin.
My lesson was that there are way too many stupid greedy people around. Even in the Bitcoin scene.

Trying to make my friends rich

We are now around the beginning of 2012. Star Wars the Old Republic just came out and I started recommending Bitcoins to my friends.
They were all like:

Arguing and persuading to get someone to invest. I was ridiculed, the "Crazy Man". No one wants to be treated like a scourge, so I stopped mentioning it.

But who could blame them? I was the only one without Facebook, a "magician" with the ladies and cut my circle from 200 to 6 people. Of course I was crazy.

At the End of 2012, I moved with my then girlfriend to Berlin.
She was a real downer. I really did not recognized it until two years later. I just wanted to get away and needed a good excuse. I was fed up with my hometown and not having any career perspective. Nevertheless, I will not discuss this here on the block chain right now.

Fast forward to today

All of my remaining friends want to go in on bitcoin. Almost five years later. And I'm like:

Two of my friends would be millionaires today.

Conclusion

So am I a man now? Maybe, but I think Manhood is a perpetual progress that you have to keep up.
Being a man, requires knowledge about the world, economics, ethics and a code that you abide to.
There is no shortcut to manhood. It's a road paved with responsibilities, failures, respect and love for humanity.
Being a boy is much easier. However, boys do not change the world.

Keep on Steemin’, Space Cowboys!

Sources:
Malcolm X Quote by: http://www.livefromlockdown.com/manhood/
GIFS by giphy.com