Keeping Steemit Healthy: Compassion, Forgiveness, Envy, and Markets

Intro
I've seen a lot of posts on how to use steemit, how it works, and how to make money. About my history: I've been a part of community organizations, hacker spaces, non-profits, and moderating reddit. I've also learned a lot in general about how to keep communities healthy, not just in terms of money or value, but a place where everyone can share, and we can help inspire and foster creativity, not scare others away. Building a positive community is hard and I expect us to see drama, and disagreements at times, but at the core if we promote positivism and fairness steemit has a bright future.

Compassion
Empathy and compassion are very similar. We must understand that there is an individual on the other end of that post. They've put time and effort into their post and have feelings like all of us. I started an experiment with the account @brookdemar, helping a homeless man, with the next update tomorrow. So many of you connected with the story, and showed compassion for someone else. This was a great sign in my book, and I'm excited to start giving back with what I've learned. There are many stories here about struggling, sexuality, bullying, hardships and more that are close to the posters life. It's important to try to be positive and connect with the author. Comments like up voted, don't convey your connection to the story. If you're really touched share your thoughts and one positive comment can change someones day for the better. If you're not interested in a persons contribution come with compassion, and give positive feedback, rather than something negative. Posters can change, and part of our duty as a community is to help others along. If you don't like the content and don't have positive feedback, then don't up vote or comment unless there's an obvious scam or other issue that needs to be addressed. 

• Key points of Compassion:
  • understand we're all human
  • put yourself in another persons shoes
  • share meaningful comments
  • up vote what touches you
  • give positive feedback not criticism
  • believe that others can change
  • realize your votes can change lives
  • create content at the same standard you hold others to.

Forgiveness
We all make mistakes, disagree, argue and will interact with people that are tough to deal with. One story I like to tell is, one time I loaned someone $10 that I knew. I saw him later and asked him for the $10 back. He said, you didn't give me $10. I was mad, frustrated and had some words with him. After I walked away, I took some time to think. I realized that holding onto this just occupies my mind and gives negative feelings. I forgave him, and in general I don't loan because of this. I learned something from the experience which is great if you can. I saw him again, and he asked for something, I said no. Although I gave him forgiveness I can no longer help him. This is how steemit works. Someone might be mean, not vote for you, or cause you issue in chat. Rather than holding on to that stress, try to forgive them and move on. There are bullies and unfair people everywhere but it's important to rise above and continue with your creativity. By forgiving them, but not engaging them, voting or helping that is only fair. Establish boundaries and keep those who have a negative affect on you at some distance. There are some things that are not forgivable. In the communities I've been in there have been harassment, sexual harassment, physical abuse and other acts. As a community we must come together, and defend the right people. I can cite so many examples, but finding out early, and dealing with issues early, gives us a chance to solve the issue, and prevent future issues. The longer it is allowed, the more that are affected and the toxicity to users is greatly amplified not to mention potential media fallout. I urge anyone who is facing extreme issues to reach out to others on chat, discuss and find a way to deal with it. The last thing we want is for others to be hurt and for such behavior to be the norm.

• Key points of forgiveness:
  • learn to let go, we all deal with unfairness
  • choose to engage with positive people
  • use boundaries to avoid continuous issues with negativity
  • give yourself time to process the situation

Envy
This is very common in the steemit community. We see others success and our posts don't do so well. You're struggling, writing, posting and it just seems like no one is interested. Well it's true in everything there are those that are very successful and others below at various levels. Envy can overtake your emotions and make your ability to keep promoting your posts and yourself, because what you're masquerading as envy is the thought that you're not good enough. Well rather than be envious of success it's important to study how others succeed, rather than wish you had their SBD (steem backed dollars) amount. you can spend that time to learn how others posts, read guides and continue to grow. Try and connect with those that you admire, in comments or chat and seek advice if appropriate. Maybe you want to learn how to be a witness, and find profit that way. Maybe you're more inclined to trade, and figure out market prices and how to profit. You can scalp the SBD price as it fluctuates or speculate on the growth of the overall price of steem. Maybe you're posting but you haven't found the right niche and audience for your posts. That's one of the beautiful things about steemit, there's not just one way to be successful there are many outlets. Envy can close that process of creative thinking and figuring out what works for you. It's important to be realistic with your self and find your passion. Looking at others and how they succeed is one great way to get an idea on the level of quality you should seek for yourself, and the way to create an audience. Digging deeper into the technology and the markets may actually be for you, because not everyone wants to write, take pictures and post to steem. Foster an open mind, envy creates a cyclical mentality that overrides your belief you can succeed, rather than realizing all the opportunities open to you.

• Key points to envy:
  • Learn from others success instead of being envious
  • If you're not doing as well as you like re-analyze your strategy
  • Keep an open mind
  • Don't be afraid of trying something new

Markets
There are many people that are using and learning steem and SBD (steem backed dollars) with steemit. Well behind it all, there are markets where we exchange value. This is brand new to many of you. Remember, there are many people exchanging value and holding the tokens. It's easy to sell everything at once, and sell through the available bids, because you want your Bitcoin right away. The more practical thing is to look at the market, and be patient. Place some orders at the higher end of the sell book, or sell into the bids slowly. This does amazing things for the community and for you. By being patient, you can generally get more fair prices overtime, and I'm specifically talking about SBD. It also leaves open room for everyone to move their value at decent rates. By all being a bit patient, and finding fair prices for our SBD, you generally end up with a better Bitcoin value, and you are being gentle to the market. Until our market grows a huge amount like some larger coins and you can sell large amounts without selling large percents down on the value, patience is king. The SBD market can be fragile, but together we can follow these basic principles, and everyone generally wins.

• Key points to markets:
  • Be patient and take time to sell
  • Sell a little to the top of the book if you're in a rush and let it recover
  • Place sell orders above market price when the market is up
  • patience

Imagine the Future