Better Lives Through Steemit! A Pause for Gratitude
I write about a lot of different things here, usually about various aspects of life and The Human Experience... but today I'd like to depart a little bit from that to pause for a moment of gratitude.
In this case it is gratitude directed at Steemit and this community not only for being an awesome place in which share my words - for more than seven years - but because (as the challenge around here often goes) it has supported a better life for many people, and that is also been true in my life.
In a few days, I have to pay my property taxes which (ouch!) is always one of my least favorite parts of the year... but they are due every year on the 31st of March.
A substantial part of my ability to pay these taxes in a timely fashion and thereby continue to living in this house comes from the fact that I have been saving up my liquid Steemit rewards for a long time and now I have enough set aside that I will actually be able to cover the majority of that payment!
Third Time Lucky?
Steemit has actually helped me out of that sort of a financial bind twice before.
The first time was about six years ago, when the old pickup truck was getting to the point where the tires were worn down to only being tires in the technical sense of the word (in that they were made of rubber and round), but other than that they were quite dangerous. At that time I was able to use my rewards to buy four new tires... which for a pickup truck is quite an outlay.
A couple of years ago, Steemit came to the rescue again when my saving were pretty depleted due to Covid, and I was able to substantially pay for the same property taxes that I am going to pay at the end of the week. In this case though I unfortunately had to power down a large part of what I had built up which still makes me sad to this day. But at least the option existed!
I guess I felt inclined to share this somewhat positive post because we spend a lot of time complaining about things that are wrong in our lives, and about things that are not working properly and perhaps we are prone to overlooking the things that are working properly and the ways in which our lives are made better!
And being able to do something you really enjoy such as writing and blogging and as a result of it being able to continue to live in the place where you like to live is definitely something to be grateful for!
I know it is recommended that we always power up our rewards... but sometimes our life situations just don't lend themselves to making that feasible. And so, we just do the best we can, with what we have.
So, a sincere and heartfelt thank you for supporting my writing and my endeavors here and for being such a marvelous community in the time that I've been here! And, of course, I intend to keep going here for as many years as this place is still around which I am hoping will be a great many!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!
How about you? Has Steemit made a real difference in your life, financially speaking? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)
Created at 2024.03.26 01:39 PDT
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I echo this sentiment ten fold and share in that gratitude! Steemit has saved my arse many times over the years and has literally been the source of being the food on my table at points.
When lockdown hit in 2020, South Africa had some of the strictest and limiting rules worldwide - we also had the longest hard lockdown in the world. My partner Dave works in the events industry so that went to a complete standstill and I no longer had a business to provide for us as I had closed those doors.
Steemit was SOLELY responsible for helping us survive that period. Yes, I had to power down everything I had - but it kept the roof over our heads, food on the table, and my enabled me to continue paying for my sons education. It literally was a life saver!
Yes, agreed - I also wish I could power up everything all the time, but we do the best we can and as I no longer have a formal job, I make ends meat in a variety of manners - Steemit being one of them, but I do try to consistently add more than I take - even if it is in value and nothing else.
Gosh, we sure have been around the block a few times here haven't we, lol! I can remember some years ago, when mu moms fridge broke. She was distraught because her art classes only really brought in enough to cover her rental and to buy food. She really didn't have enough to spend on buying a new fridge - and unfortunately, at that time, I was not really in a position to help her either.
Then I went to have a look at how much liquid Steem she had collected and she had enough to buy herself a new fridge! I will NEVER forget how absolutely over the moon she was... my mom was not a woman who splurged, spoiled herself or even spent very much in general... and that day, was like Christmas for her!!! It was really emotional to witness actually. She even decided to be bold and got herself a red one, lol - which initially I thought was totally out of character... haha - but it actually looked amazing in her place and her art students were so sweet that they started buying her all kinds of cute red kitchen accessories to highlight and compliment he new fridge :)
Personally, I feel that Steem and Steemit have a very solid future ahead and I too am very grateful to be a part of that journey as well as for everything it has done to support me along the way!
<3
Ah, yes, those Covid years were difficult time for many of us! I remember reading about how things were going in different places and often found myself sending a warm thought you away after reading how tough things were in South Africa. It must have been quite scary to make it all work, particularly with Dave not being able to work.
For us, we lost 100% of the income I normally get from selling my stones at arts and crafts fairs, which is basically 95% of the total revenue they generate. Meanwhile, Sarah (my wife) lost about half of her income from counseling because she could no longer see people face to face and a lot of her clients were just not willing to do Zoom or FaceTime sessions.
Even my business as a book editor went down, which I could never quite make sense of. People were stuck at home and had more time to themselves than ever, and yet it seemed like there were few gigs coming my way, and a lot of people actually said that they were waiting to work on their book projects until "after Covid." the only thing I can suppose, is that they felt like they had less money coming in from other sources to afford to hire an editor.
We certainly have! And thank you for being one of the few people with whom I have felt connected all this time. I am just really grateful that you are in the world and in my life, even if you are halfway around the world!
That's such a cool story about your mom, by the way. And she definitely looks totally stoked to have her red fridge!
<3
Yes, gratitude is quite appropriate now, after seven years. As a Steemian with the number 114,995, I only just joined the blockchain at the last minute in 2016 and have already been able to make a lot of money that the blockchain practically conjured up out of thin air.
I was once able to pay for 2000 litres of heating oil with STEEM, as well as two weeks' holiday in Samos. Of course, it was far too hot there and the flight was adventurous, but that's not the Steem's fault. Huobi stole 1900 Steem from me because of a leading space and a pointless space game certainly cost another 2000 coins. Nevertheless, I am now back with votes over 10 Cents. I hope that our hard-working witnesses will remain focussed for many more years and that Steemit Inc. will remain as insignificant to the function of Steem in its eighth year as it has mostly been to date.
Seems like most of us who started early have stories... good and bad.
I also lost a transfer to the old Poloniex exchange because I missed copying the first character in the "memo" area... beginner's mistake, and I have been telling people to double and triple check their transactions before sending.
I honestly don't know how much or who there is to make up this thing called "Steemit, Inc." but they were never much aside from Ned's hair and Dan making technical claims and moving on to his next project. Oh, and Elizabeth briefly trying to be CEO. The only thing I really hope is that our witnesses have the freedom and sufficient access to keys and codebase to implement the changes and updates needed without STINC needing to get involved.
I agree with every word you have said in this post. I am also grateful to Steemit. When the war came to my country, it also affected the economy. Since I work at a large industrial plant, due to the disruption of logistical connections, it was forced to stop its activities. Over time, it became almost bankrupt, and wages stopped being paid. Steemit became the saving straw that helped me solve the problems of the family budget.
It's actually a fantasy. While other people grab any menial work to earn a living, I sit at home in the warmth, do what I like, communicate, and this helps me in solving financial problems. I don't know how the fate of this platform will be in the future, but I know for sure that I will remain grateful to it for what it has already managed to do for me.
Yes @o1eh, I think it is a wonderful thing that we have had this platform to draw on through whatever difficulties we have experienced. Of course, I'm not suggesting that any troubles we have experienced here come even close to living in a war zone!
At this point, I actually feel somewhat positive about the future of Steemit. We have the modernization initiative @the-gorilla is working on, and we are back to having independent decentralized witnesses. And those are both good things.
If there's one thing I have learned in my time here, it is to make the most of things when times are good because the crypto markets have a way of moving steeply up and down, and suddenly things might go in a different direction. So whereas we can go through times where our rewards are most excellent, I have also been doing this in a time when the Steem token dropped to less than seven cents! So save a little, when you can... just in case!
Yes, that's good advice. I have no illusions about the future price of Steem. I don't see why it should be high. I don't see why new investors should join us, at least for now. So I expect the next bottom to be even lower than 15 cents.
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