DEADWEIGHT

So during the early hours of this morning, I decided to filter my following list. When I created this account, I followed a couple of people I knew from my previous account and a couple new ones who I thought would add value to me and I them, but it turned out that I wrong. So I unfollowed a few, especially those accounts that haven't posted a while. Like I have said before, it's not about numbers. Moreover, many people aren't posting these days, and thinking about it now, this might be because they are using the system the system differently. I might spend hours on the blockchain playing with my steem monster cards or answering questions on musing. All these things you will not see if you check my posting page. We've not really grasped the fact that the steem blockchain is more than it was some months back. This is just a thought that came to my mind while I was editing this post, so sorry for the detour.

Now back to the issue. I mentioned earlier that I have unfollowed a number of accounts lately. Asides inactivity, I hardly interact with such account holders so I do not see reasons why I should follow them anymore.

Also, I had to unfollow some accounts I followed out of sentiment. I used to be part of a very vibrant discord group where I might a lot of steemians from my country. It was quite easy to connect with them and I ended up following most of them here. Losing my old account, I decided, after creating this account to follow most of them again. But it seems things are pretty different now, both on the steem blockchain and discord. Most of them seem to be heavily invested in other platforms trying to maximize their earning capacity. But if I am, to be honest, I really do not care about the things they write about anymore and you know what? I never really did, and I think the feeling is mutual. I'm not going to say this is particular to African communities, but I think most are more concerned about the number of their earnings/rewards than the quality of their content. I won't exclude myself from this type of behavior because I have been guilty of this--I still am, but I have thought about this and in my own little way I have been trying to make amends. There is no way we can create a community that can stand the test of time if we are all obsessed about getting as much as we can from the reward pool. That's why platforms like Twitter and Instagram have a large user base, even though they do not get rewarded financially. The chances are you are going to follow the people you like or think you like and retweet posts you can relate with.

A lot of us are carrying dead weights, people and projects who are no longer useful in our journey. I believe everyone has a time and place in your life, and not taking note of this or being indifferent about it can negatively impact your progress. There is a Chinese adage that says something along this line: a cup that is filled cannot hold any more content. I think this applies to us as well. If we clutter our lives with irrelevant things/persons, there will not be room for anything else to come in.

Sometimes these things or persons might no longer have any impact or whatsoever on your life, but they are there occupying space. It's only a matter of time before these things start to accumulate resulting in clutter. For example, I'm on over +20 servers on discord, but I am only active on 2-3, so what's the point of remaining in those servers? Well, I do so out of sentiments. Probably I have built relationships on there and leaving might seem like I am betraying the people I've met there and they might abhor resentment against me. This irrational guilt is one of the primary reasons most of accommodating dead weight.

I want to care about the people I follow or the content they produce, that's if I cannot do both. The former can be detrimental to the steem ecosystem as it would mean that we place more emphasis on relationships than content quality. I would rather not like you but your work. It is hard sometimes but it is doable and in fact better. I really do feel like a fraud when I see my upvotes on posts I do not like. That's why I'm strongly against automating votes. The fact that I posted a couple of posts you like (see how much I am trying not to use the dreaded word 'quality') doesn't mean I will continue this pattern forever. I might get relaxed at some point and begin to drop very shitposts. So it's important we do these manually here, that way we can everyone on their toes. You're not going to receive my support if you decide to abuse the privilege Yes it might not be as fast as you might want it. We would have to take our time, which, if you ask me, is the major value we give to a content producer. That's why I always commend the musing team of curators for maintaining the sanity of the platform through manual curation.

So in a nutshell, don't be afraid of letting go of things that have no positive impact on you. Let go of the dead weight, create room for new experiences and people. This way you will be able to realize your goals without much delay or resistance.

©nonsowrites

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