Showcase April - Thoughts from a Hostel bed
Freewriting is my favourite style of writing. Why? Because people get to know me at my truest (is that a word?). People reading my writings can relate to what I´m telling them - or at least that´s what they tell me - and even though whenever I read them again I find some grammar mistakes or typos, it´s the same as it is in life. We don´t get a do over and we don´t get to click "edit", correct our mistakes and post again.
Freewriting is the best way to show true emotions, true feelings, to portray an authentic picture of ourselves.
I wanted to write about my experiences in Russia for the past month. I´s been a month, wow. I was taking the subway to my hostel this morning and said to myself "Eric, you have to post more, remember you are a full time Steemian traveling, don´t stop posting" but I realized I feel a bit guilty because while some people are struggling to get $1 in rewards, I was actually able to come to the world cup thanks to Steemit. It seems a bit unfair.
I mean, after all I´m trying to help as many people as I can, I´m doing all these contests where I have literally gave away more than 5,000 usd in rewards I could´ve kept, I try to spread my votes as much as I can - even if these prices don´t allow it - and I still feel a bit guilty when I post something incredible I´m experiencing while some other Steemians are struggling to pay rent.
I know I shouldn´t feel this way. You know why? Because I started from the bottom. When I joined Steemit I had no Steem Power, no money and no influence, all I had was a dream, determination and discipline.
I left my city to travel around the world and I left with 1k usd and no idea about how I was going to survive.
I started to make posts about my adventures in central america and how I struggled to stay afloat.
My content was different from anything you´ve ever seen on Steemit (and perhaps only a handful of blogs posted my kind of stories/content in the whole world wide web) and I built an audience. I slept in the streets some nights, some others I slept in strange people´s backyards, sometimes locals invited me to their homes and I had no choice but to trust them or sleep under a bridge, etc.
And I was posting all about it. In the blockchain, where nothing goes away and every letter stays forever.
I posted daily. Quality content daily. Written on a cellphone or in a notebook and then transcribed to my laptop - you can´t write on a laptop if you are hitchiking in Honduras.
I was speaking about this subject with a Steemian friend a few days ago. I call her my Fav Finn. I haven´t been able to speak a lot with my friends over discord or steemit comments because when I´m traveling, I try to make the most out of every moment and, even though now with my delegation I have to curate daily - which is why I had to buy an extra battery for my phone and I had to buy an unlimited internet sim card - I still try to be afc - absent from cellphone - as much as I can. This is to try and bring the best content I can.
Long story short, she told me "Hey, don´t feel guilty, you earned this and you deserve it. Your content is great and no one gave you anything for free, you earned it".
The point is, I didn´t want to make a post about the world cup, I haven´t had the drive to do one for days and that is the main reason. Somehow, I felt it was unfair for me to be here thanks to steemit and some other people earning cents with amazing posts.
But the thing is, I´m trying to help all those people, because I got a lot of support when I started and, if I find content worthy of supporting I will do it with my delegation. But on the other hand, not everyone can live of off Steemit earnings and if I´m lucky enought to do it, I shouldn´t be ashamed of posting about my adventures.
After all, I was posting all about my adventures when I was a rep 40 Steemian with 200 Steem Power. Why shouldn´t I keep doing it? It´s not like I´ve forgotten where I came from and where I want to be next.
I´m still the humble low budget nomad, I just got a bit lucky during my nomading.
My advice to anyone who kept reading: Don´t be ashamed of struggling in life to achieve your dreams but, when you fulfill them, don´t you dare to feel guilty about your success.
This post was originally posted in July 2018 and it's part of my initiative called showcase April, where I'll post the best content I've done over the past three years