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The Gratitude Challenge by @theycallmedan

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I'm so thrilled to be doing this and thanks a million to @theycallmedan I'm having an avenue to show unparalleled gratitude to steem, so I'll definitely like to keep this within limits and I hope you get to know to know me a little more.

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SO here's the big question

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What has steem done for you?

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Looking past the trying times, there's been definitely so much that I would like to be thankful about. I didn't know anything about cryptocurrency before 2017, my friend rufans was the person who showed me steem, got me signed up in September the 11th 2017 apart from being on steem, it opened a lot of doors through which I got to know other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum, so bitcoin created a sort of reason why I dived into the enigmatic world of crypto and blockchain.

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Steem is an amazing community and I as a person used to be a lone ranger, **I grew up having a tough time associating with people, peers and friends, I was always sickly so I had to be in hospital or indoors most of the times so this restricted me from having that societal experience how to make composition how to actually reciprocate a smile or laughter being shown at me, even when steem seemed like a virtual community it was a place I wanted to wake up everyday and be in, be at, and stay in. this course of being on steem I can gladly say I have met people who have changed the course of my life.

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Before steem

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Now

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I remember posting about my birthday on steem

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Which happened to be September 22 eleven days after I have just signed up to the steem blockchain. And I got massive love, so many people showed me love and appreciation, a few sent me steem and for someone who hasn't celebrated a birthday since I was born it was such a special feeling then I decided to turn up everyday creating contents and communicating with a whole lot of people and making friends.

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Steem came at the right time for me.

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At 22 joining steem, that moment in my life was a period where you are often considered useless when you just do not have a dream yet or do not have a purpose on how to establish your life I was obviously doing a day job that I was earning peanuts, but then I wasn't even enough for me to continue my part-time degree in college and at the same time take care of my mum who was suffering from partial stroke and somewhat of a cerebral hemorrhage which has rendered her unable to work after the death of my father, so there was this need for me to step in and fill a shoe that I wasn't ready to fill and feeling this shoe means standing up to financial responsibilities even understanding the fact that harsh conditions makes me sick and in the course of my life I came to understand that sometimes one needs fulfillment and a reason to live in order to live and thrive so steem came when I was looking for a friend, a means to actually take care of my family, and a place to actually monetize my content (I'm an essayist, majorly a poet and a short story content creator) after failing woefully in places like fiverr.

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Have you met some awesome people who have changed your life?

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Most of the nicest people in my life was actually the awesome people who contributed in the man i am today, and 95% of them are on steem.

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Have you earned some rewards on a post, and maybe bought something useful/cool with the money? (photos please!)

Actually 99% of everything I own today was as a result of being on steem. After 4 months of being on the blockchain that was when the bull market happened and for a sequence of another 4 months I owned everything I have currently in my life now after desperately living from hand to mouth and not being able to achieve a single goal before I met steem. I remember buying my 2nd and third Android phone and I bought it exactly on Steam and they were special to me because I hadn't used any cool gadgets because I couldn't afford to get one but definitely being on steem helped be a few things I wouldn't have dreamed of being, that's why despite all odds I'm still here.

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Here's a a few cool stuff I bought

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Has Steem been useful as a foundation for you to build an online profile that can never be taken from you?

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Like I said earlier I failed miserably trying to be on fiverr because I needed the platform to Showcase myself as a poet and I didn't have any money to be published with a publishing company neither do I even have the money to do online publishing like on Amazon and as a result of this I couldn't even have a platform to show people how good that was in writing.

Because people needed you to be tested and trusted and the professional they do not want to hire somebody who was still pruning their skills and still cutting their teeth

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But Steem gave me that Platform

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Today I'm better reformed a better writer, and I am definitely going to fulfill That dream of publishing soon, with the help of a friend but basically the basics was that steem helped me to get all the necessary support I needed and I can boastfully call myself a professional very good at what he does all because I had steem to build that process for me.

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I can't stop without thanking a few People who's been more than family to me

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@nathanmars, @dante31, @gloglo @hebrew @ogoowinner, @lizanomadsoul, an angel in human form. @adetorrent the living inspiration of a man I wish to be. @snook with that motherly figure. @theycallmedan that living legendary lifestyle that commensurates community, I definitely have many more and I'll edit and add once the memories keeps flooding again.

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grateful to @dtube @esteem @busy @alexis555 @ripperone @newhope @slowwalker, @gtg @ayobami99 @beeyou @mangos and so Many other accounts whose dropped by to add value to me.

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Yours truly @Josediccus

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A true steemian