Pausing for a Minute to Give Thanks! Happy Thanksgiving

Between running a couple businesses, a family including a couple kids with activities, 2 hockey teams, @pifc, and the Minnow Builder Program it seems like most of my days are nonstop from the time I wake up until the minute I go to sleep...seriously I steemit until I'm ready to pass out each night. All of this go-go-go sometimes leaves me in a place where my mindset is about getting things done which maybe leaves me forgetting to show appreciation.

This post is a day before Thanksgiving which is my favorite holiday of the year. So many love Xmas, but for me that holiday is way to commercialized and way to much about the gifts. To me Thanksgiving allows family to gather at our home eat, drink, and enjoy each others company. We have 4 generations from both my Wife's family and My family under one roof swapping stories, catching up on what we might have missed from each other's year, learning about our heritage from the oldest members of the family (what they can remember of it anymore...lol), and even enjoying some political and religious "discussions"....hey why not, it's fun getting a 90+ year old to go off on a rant about the good ole days and why the world sucks today is because God was taken out of the classrooms.

So as I am taking breaks from the house cleaning this post will go on, and on. There are many people here on steemit that I am Thankful for and hopefully I don't miss to many of them...missing some is a given as I'm just not the uber organized type. Sorry in advance and please don't feel slighted if you are missed.

The Brave who Inspire

Being brave can mean so many things. It's not just the Firefighter who walks into a burning house to save someone or others like that, most bravery isn't even noticed as such. Those who open up about their personal situations, those who do things way outside their comfort zone, and those who take a leap of faith to try and help others even if it means some personal loss to themselves. See these people are brave beyond words and their bravery helps inspire others. Most of the time not even realizing that their actions or words are having any effect on the next person.

@lynncoyle1 & @briancourteau's story is known by many. @briancourteau has been battling cancer for some time now and actually wrote a farewell post to his steemit friends just last week as things have gotten harder for him. Their story of love and pain has touched the hearts of many here and it's hard not to read their posts about each other without realizing how lucky you are to have your loved ones healthy and by your side. To @lynncoyle1 & @briancourteau I am Thankful to have met you both and become friends, you inspire me to love like there may not be a tomorrow.

@wolfhart is also battling cancer and has been sharing his story as he gets his treatments. When he first learned of the cancer he was told get your affairs in order as you have weeks to live. Yet his most recent post shows his treatment is going better then expected and he may be going into remission...but sadly that this cancer doesn't ever get cured and will come back. Now his cancer story isn't what made @wolfhart brave to me at the start, see he isn't the most computer savvy person and most our first conversations where centered around how can I do this or that. He has learned the things needed to be on steemit, he set up a discord channel so we can help the @pifc community more then we could with posts alone, he has taken countless hours learning things so he can then teach them to newbies on the Steemit platform. Many people can tell you how @wolfhart has helped them or pushed them to be a better steemian and he does this all without the accolades that many get. I am Truly Thankful to have met you my friend as you inspire me to keep helping others.

@kaliju who is putting everything on the line to follow his heart and start up @dStors. His passion for this project is infectious and the goal of the project would change the face of steemit and more importantly Steem turning it into a legit cryptoCurrency. While I have stepped away from this project due to time commitments it's still one that I believe in and will lend my support to as needed. Thank you @kaliju for your passion, this take serious bravery and inspires me to find ways to create value for Steem and spread the word of Steemit.

The Curators trying to Inspire Greatness

Finding amazing people on Steemit is complicated and time consuming. Sadly this means a lot of great posts slip past being noticed by...well honestly by anyone. These newer members of steemit come on and are told create great content and earn, but that is total BS. The truth is you need to build a network of people and then over time you will start to have real followers who upvote your posts. This takes time and a little luck. Thankfully there are people out there that are willing to take their time week after week to help curate great posts and introduce them to others.

@pifc has some long time members, we are talking in Steemit Age they are the old wise men/women of the community, who have been submitting 2-3 undervalued blog posts week after week in their own effort to encourage new steemit members to keep blogging. Members like @bengy & @viking-ventures have been around since the start while many others came in shortly after like @trincowski, @tryskele, @cicisaja, @dipoabasch, @stever82, @macoolette, @zorank, @celinavisaez, @brittandjosie and so many more. No matter what I do here the list is to long to cover everyone...Just want the @pifc community of curators to know that I am very Thankful for their efforts to help bring forward great content each week in their entries to the Curation Contest.

@trincowski is also part of the PIFC community and he has taken it upon himself to start up his own Art Curation Initiative each week for a few curated artists. Love seeing someone take it to the next level like this.

The Visionaries helping Shape a Better Tomorrow

Naturally there are some witnesses that deserve mention here and more then a few communities. Maybe more then any one post could cover...and for sure more then just part of a post can cover. But here is a quick list of some of those I am Thankful for.

@tarazkp is not a witness, nor is he a community...but rather a self proclaimed "prolific thinker" which then turns into one of the largest content producers on Steemit. He may not realize how he impacts others with his words thoughts, but anyone that follows @tarazkp knows his posts will challenge you. Sometime they will challenge you to think, other times to dream, and then sometimes just to get lost in a story. Steemit needs more people who not only are prolific thinkers, but who can convey those thoughts in a way that forces the reader to have some reaction to the post. Love it or Hate it, emotion causes action and this world needs more Action.

@knircky (witness account @steem-bounty) for having the drive to try and come up with ideas to help smaller members have a more even playing field. Allowing members to reward their followers well beyond what their voting power allows with @steem-bounty and then coming up with a way to reward old posts with Steem Forever. Sure these programs are great, but it's the vision behind them that makes me Thankful for someone like @knircky.

@blockbrothers (team witness account) who created #steemify and are focused on increased function and usability of the Steemit blockchain. I have been a fan of @exyle for a long time and the day he announced that they had a witness account I added them to my vote (you are voting for witnesses right?) and knew that with his vision and belief in the steemit blockchain he as someone I wanted to have a real voice in the future of steemit. I'm thankful that people like him are willing to focus so much time and efforts into helping create a better tomorrow for the rest of us.

@c-squared (witness) for supporting curation efforts of steemit and adding some support to a lot of deserving posts each day.

@hitmeasap who started the Push to Minnow and has helped those with 450-499sp become minnows with a push from the community. This has been a great success in helping multiple people become minnows within a couple days time once they reach 450sp. For more about this read UPDATES: Let's Push People To 500 SP! | Are You Eligible? - Apply For A Community Push!https://steemit.com/steemit/@hitmeasap/updates-let-s-push-people-to-500-sp-or-are-you-eligible-apply-for-a-community-push. Also have to mention the amazing work that @asapers does helping curate and then posting a list of the curated posts. This added attention to some posts helps keep people motivated.

@ocd (@ocd-witness) runs a daily curation post of some great content that is worth a look. They give some exposure and votes for deserving blog posts each and every day. Plus if you are on their whitelist they run about the only profitable bid bot out there, catch is you have to be nominated and approved to be allowed to use this bot....no shit posts here!

@abh12345 with his Curation and Engagement Leagues and @paulag with her Redfish Power Up League & Minnow Power Up league make up the witness group @steemcommunity. They are big on supporting smaller members of steemit and trying to support their growth. Steemit is lucky to have them.

Thankful for those who help clean up the trash like the communities of @steemcleaners and @steemflagrewards. A lot of great people give up their votes to help flag trash and try and protect other steemians from phishing scams and other nonsense. In this group you can add @arcange who does a great job keeping the community informed when there is a phishing scam going around.

Realizing that there are so many friends made here on steemit that it's hard to thank everyone. But before I wrap up I need to say I'm Thankful to have become friends with @andrewharland who is my partner in the @minnowbuilder project. We are working on some more ideas that will hopefully help steems reach expand and bring new money into Steem. We will announce more about that as we are able too, but it's a bit off still as we are in the planning phase.

Life is Good...even when Steem is crashing

I am thankful for the people I've met here on steemit even if the sky is currently falling. The monetary value of steem isn't my Why for being here. The friends that I chat with each day have so much more value to me then the coins...but seriously a rally would be nice..lol. As my house is almost in order for tomorrow, the grocery shopping is done, and this post is wrapping up I will take a minute and be Thankful there is another beer in my fridge....Cheers!