The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Called Steemit

There is a saying which goes thus: You don't realize the value of something you possess until it is eventually lost. And believe me when I say I almost learned the true meaning of this statement the hard way. But I'm glad it didn't get to that, since the hard way is never the best way. This is because when one learns the hard way, most times it becomes a little too late and several irreversible consequences might have already occurred. Now how did I almost lose this valuable gift called steemit?

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An Introduction To An Amazing New World

Well, I was introduced to steemit by a personal and good friend of mine @ehiboss and although we may have conflicting opinions or perspectives from time to time or maybe even fight, quarrel and disagree about a lot of things, he still remains a dear friend and a brother to me. Okay so now he talked to me about steemit several months ago, sometime around may or june I think and believe me when I say I immediately dismissed the life changing information he had brought to my notice on a platter. This was because although he made it clear to me that it wasn't a ponzi scheme but a legit way to earn financial rewards by exercising my freedom of speech and expression through words and deed, I wasn't really convinced, as I thought he was only trying so hard to sugarcoat the whole story and make it all the more attractive to my hearing. Mind you, this was a period of time when several good-for-nothing ponzi schemes ravaged the surface of the earth like the biblical flood of Noah's day, and my fellow Nigerian brothers and sisters know exactly what I'm talking about. I had lost huge amounts of cash and was in serious debt because I had to pay off persons I had introduced to the schemes with my own cash when those schemes crashed and failed while also dealing with the personal losses I myself had incurred. This was a very cold, dark and miserable period for me as I had never experienced something so frustrating before. And like you rightly guessed, I was fast giving in to deep despair and desperation. I needed to pay off more debts but with my monthly budget it had become unrealistic. And trust our dear Nigerian brothers and sisters especially when it comes to the issue of money, they don't joke with it. The patience of persons I owed was fast running thing and I tried in vain to get some more money to pay them off. I even had to resort to doing some certain things I'm not proud of till date, things which I won't speak about in detail right now to avoid digressing unnecessarily but perhaps I will in some future post whenever I feel inspired to. So he eventually convinced me to sign up on steemit and I did but unfortunately my account remained dormant and inactive for about 2-3 months due to an apparent lack of conviction, something I deeply regret till date and still trying so hard to forgive myself for. This is because like my dad would say;

A child who claims to be hungry and is served food but waits to be told how good and sweet the food is, is not really hungry and will starve.

Too bad I forgot the real meaning of this parable so soon and failed to apply it in this case because it was only until I needed some form of financial assistance from @ehiboss which he duly helped me with and then told me it was from his financial proceeds on steemit that my eyes opened wide and clear making me suddenly realize I had wasted two good months after registration. It was really painful for me because I knew what I could have gained and achieved on the platform in a period of two months. During the course of our conversation he asked for my username which I couldn't even remember. Yeah it was that bad! I had to login to my G-mail account to retrieve my username from one of the mails sent to my account right after my successful initial registration.

Leaving The Dark Tunnel And Embracing The Wonderful Light

To cut the long story short, I started breathing life into my account by being active and thus making it fully functional, although at some point I almost gave up because apart from the fact that it wasn't really easy combining the stress of my daily activities with trying to blog actively, I also really didn't have much passion for writing or you can say I was not born a writer, I was born a reader lol. This proved to be a major challenge initially as I had to step outside my comfort zone with regards to this if I was to achieve anything meaningful or significant on the platform. Trust me this wasn't easy as I also had to buy out time from no time to blog actively while also reading and interacting meaningfully with the posts of other bloggers. I also had to force myself to learn more about cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology and all of that stuff which sounds really confusing to most newbies on any cryptocurrency platform. I'm not even done learning yet, there's still a whole "below the tip of the iceberg" crypto world to learn and gradually I will get to the rock bottom of the iceberg, but the point is I didn't give up, but rather I challenged myself to fight all the more, come what may and this proved to be one of the best decisions I've ever made because now not only has steemit impacted positively into my life, it has also refined me in several ways and has made me a much better person. It has made me a more adept reader and writer and at the same time has also given me the beautiful chance of earning financial rewards for expressing myself in words. That's like giving someone a lovely gift and paying them for using that gift in good ways! What more could I ask for?

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The Conclusion

Now you've seen the real reason why I refer to steemit as the light at the end of the tunnel; this is because it came at a point in time when I had almost given up on anything and everything, a point in time when hope seemed like a luxury I couldn't afford, a point in time when I had almost turned off my humanity switch like Elena Gilbert in "The Vampire Diaries". It came just when I needed it the most. It came at the best possible time and thus proved to be the silver lining in my dark cumulonimbus clouds.
I know it's not going to turn me into an instant millionaire but at least it has rescued me from the claws of despair. I can now express myself freely and fully, meet other beautiful like minded individuals, learn from the personal experiences of other great steemians and also interact with these great and awesome minds right here on the platform.

There's a whole world right here to explore, and explore I must!

Thanks a lot for paying a visit to my blog. I really do hope you enjoyed reading this post and also hope it was worth the time it took you to.

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Images are from pixabay

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Thanks to @gbenga for this lovely badge

And also thanks to @malos10 for this beauty