Returning To Steemit or Does One Ever Leave?

Send To All!

An interim evaluation of the added value of Steemit in one’s life when it is no longer part of one’s life.

credit: benjaminlehman.com

Dear Folk,

Welcome back!

Or should you be saying this to me? Mamma bear coming out of hibernation - or, whatever creature emerges from “invernation” (a summer non-equivalent). An old dog who has been lazing in the noon day sun, wrapping up warm for an early, nippy start, smacked awake by a fresh step out onto Steemit.

That’s the funny thing with Steemit: are you on it - into it, ever over it - or is it onto you?

It’s been… a while. No longer than planned; back exactly on time, as planned. Leaves me only with the question, according to whose plan? Now the day is upon me (not without some anticipation), it feels like the Being of Steemit has had a hold over me all this time… as much as any web-consciousness can.

But don’t get me wrong, probably not in any sense those of you stuck right in the middle of it might hope it has. For me, it was never a case of missing an old friend and longing to get back to the platform to post my troubles, joys and other extraordinarily ordinary daily occurrances. I did not need the discipline of posting to Steemit or it’s lure of a regular income (excuse me while I take a little turn over the floor laughing) for my life to carry on as per usual. Indeed, once you close the door behind you, Steemit soon vanishes from sight with nothing in your outside life to remind you of it. One soon wonders what all the fuss that is called Steemit ever could be about.

Freedom cannot be pressed into a blog.

The safest thing to conclude for now is that one gets sucked up in it or one does not. Not in any sense that you lose your free will; but perhaps, you do get to experience how unfree that will is, anyway, in general. Steemit helped me distinguish the difference between the only freedom there lies in feeling and the limits the head and gut impose.

This is not to say Steemit has not helped, precisely, to restore my faith in feeling; if only, already, by some kind of inversion which demonstrates how difficult it is to stimulate original and authentic feeling in eachother here, with a zillion cliches and PC responses as the common norm, secretly obliging you in many ways. I think, however, that such a norm for decent interaction is a wise one as compared to a more radical endorsement of “free speech” which is seldom that free anyway, in the sense I just outlined afore, where freedom is something that flows from heart to heart.

credit: creativemarket.com/Lum3n

Soul-saving work

The more seasoned amongst us, and those leaving all matters pertaining to bitcoin to one side, as well as the abstract notion that, when it really matters, there is any transparency worth having in block-chain, we understand that in communicating what is on our minds, here, we foster very meek hopes. We hope, here, as elsewhere, to share our own observations for mutual benefits. We like the idea of carrying over our own lessons of life, the tiny pointers, handy tips, vague ideas, particular angles that just might come in handy for you along the way, in support of whoever you might need to become; maybe in the hope of some reciprocation; hardened enough to hold out no expectations. In that sense, Steemit can be a charitable channel; a humanitarian outreach.

Shall I stay or shall I go?

So, not stuck for occupation (Proust kept me busy this Summer), nor lonely for company (four of you lingered on my mind throughout; a small handful cropped up for me every now and then where prompted), and definitely not duped by the self-sustained Steemit faith that there is anything glorious about being a member of the club (you really are unheard of by any non-Steemian!) there remains a vague nostalgia. After all, I was intensely busy with Steemit for six months, day in day out, without fail, feeling this was a prerequisite for the experiment to mean anything; but could I, now, sum up what Steemit ever meant and could ever mean for me?

Occupational therapy

The question, how was life different away from Steemit might be best turned around by noting how instantly it becomes similar again, once one sits down to write for Steemit. Not that this “job” quite fits like a glove, yet there is something like getting back on a bike again….

It brings back memories - especially of cold and early mornings, of which I have not had any yet, trying to recover from a few strenuous summer months with some terrifying back issues and a OCD son suddenly snatched up by a bat from Hell…. There is no comparing summer to winter, and this return is starting to make winter associated with Steemit. It could be a welcome focus point (read distraction) as I struggle to let go of my son who is in no fit state to be let go of. Is there a story worth sharing there? Probably best to stick to Proust - even if this won’t do much for my rating. Indeed, the same old issue instantly surfaces: do I need this time-consumer on my hands?

I certainly don’t have time to be sociable and read all your lovely blogs every day. Nor do I see myself bending over backwards (ouch!) to put out copy daily. Just pasting up a snapshot is probably never going to be my style: what would be the point. Then again, what point at all did my former pieces ever serve? What a wonderfully humbling experience Steemit can make!

Remains: Steemit was a platform, where I stood as if waiting for a train (that never came), and where I happened to get to talk to some real and meaningful people, regardless of where they were coming from or going to. For this to be an element of Steemit to build up on, takes well-rounded and socially skilled people, who have time to commit to such social interactions.

In my lessons: advice to newbies

I have learned a lot from those I kept close to my heart, about not taking this platform too seriously, unless you are in it for the money; about taking this platform seriously enough as a social forum; about how distances are only bridged by personal intents to meet somewhere in the middle - it is wasted effort to step too far off your own course for the sake of getting to know others; but it is an opportunity missed if you don’t remain open-minded and non-judgemental.

In the heading, I refer to a recurring feature in Michael McIntyre’s BBC show, “Send To All” to remind myself to keep it short: he invites a celebrity to hand over their phone, on which he types an amusing App, which he then “sends to all”, including dentist, doctor, ex-wife, coach, boss, baby-sitter, mother-in-law… whomever they have in their contact list (and most likely did not block before hand). Eventhough I don’t really care about being read or not (TLDR), trying to keep my post close to my heart, I will anyway wrap it up and leave you with my single direct motivation to pop in every now and then.

Anybody have wholesome contacts in Portugal?

My best and only friend is emigrating (back) to Portugal. I think I might just join her - especially since my son (20) is planning to marry aforementioned psychic vampire (his auti-mind plans this for around 2023). I am a little tired of sitting about waiting for somebody to maybe/maybe not turn up for dinner while they are off sowing their adolescent oats in fields full of blotchy diseases. (To be clear I speak in spiritual context here: sex does not seem to be the glue between them. It’s far more psycho-pathological than that.)

Problem with the move is (aside son, of course), that we both are not quite sure how we are going to continue our organic, vegetarian/vegan (raw food in her case) life-styles; where to find our naturopaths (or anthroposophic medical care); and above all where we might find similar people. How may we put the final half of our lives to good community use in a place where neither of us is fluent in the language (I only have Spanish, alas) and considering both of us are pretty fond of our peace and meditative life.

We are eager to build up on existing foundations or set something up in collaboration, but not naïve enough to pretend we have bags of energy or practical resources with which to move mountains on our own accord.

Furthermore, I myself have never been to Portugal, so I must find a way to learn more about the place and discover what might be waiting there to help, finally, live a life of my own, with results and rewards to take with me when I go. Can Steemit mean to help me with this? That I shall be discovering in the coming month.

Book Recommendation

Which reminds me, I read "The Portuguese Mountains" by Yann Martell, this summer (in between the tomes of Proust) which I can't really recommend, for it isn't really that good; whereas I did enjoy "Beatrice and Virgil" (and "Pi", of course). I still don't really know where those mountains might be, by the way.... For me Portugal is all Atlantic, and that probably has to do with having lived in Spain and envied a proper oceanic coast.