Introduce Yourself --- Returning Steemit Author

Well, well, well. Here we are again, Steemit.

I'm not sure exactly what's going on here. I was an author on Steemit years ago and the platform seems as though it's transformed dramatically. Do people still do #introduceyourself 's? Was there a serious hardfork that occurred?

Who am I?

I wrote on Steemit years ago as @herbertholmes . At some point during that time, I revealed my name was not actually Herbert Holmes as I had been displaying myself; rather I'm a 27 year old white manic depressant kid from Vermont(USA) named Erik.

I wrote mainly about horror films, books, music reviews, a little fiction, and about my own journey trying to understand Steemit and cryptocurrency in general. I did fairly "well", especially at times when STEEM was upwards of $5/6. I gained a very core group of online friends through the Steemit community and it became a major part of my daily life.

During a period of serious depression and financial issues, I lost most abilities to use the platform. I had purchased a cheap computer from my room mate(at the time) and that influenced me to give Steemit another stab. However, when that computer crashed, I was in no position to pursue a new computer. I had a series of much more pressing issues I needed to address in my life and I had not been realistic with myself about my own mental health and the actuality of how motivated I could really continue to be.

Fast forward to 2020. COVID-19 has separated my fiancee and myself by international borders(she is from Chile). I had a job and a place to live lined up there from money I had saved over the past year. I instead had to re-route my life to stay here "temporarily" while we waited for the borders to open. Our glorious (cough cough) president Trump has decided to try to re-open our country, and attempt to convince the public that COVID is not serious, causing COVID cases to spike and giving me little hope of being able to make it to my "family" anytime soon.

Other than my somewhat selfish reason for being upset over the way the POTUS is handling COVID, I have been becoming increasingly angry and politically motivated by his decisions. In the period of two months I lost a family member to the virus, and a close friend in a peaceful protest. I'm sure many of you are aware of the protests concerning police brutality here in recent times; and the way our media has been trying to lie and cover it up, to victimize the police and to draw negative attention to the protestors.

[Source: Christian Smiley]

The more involved I started to become, even locally, the more motivated I became due to my community's unwillingness to address racial issues and political reform. I have been repeatedly shut down for trying to get more local action on a small scale, and it has motivated me to not take no for an answer and to become more involved in issues that matter.

I saved up as much money as I could to buy a refurbished computer. It just arrived. I am hoping to write several books concerning political systems in the USA(and worldwide, but with a more scrutinizing look at things here) and how they affect race relations, opportunity, etc. I plan to attempt to use my voice to help other white people(I am a white male) understand what we can do to slow these atrocities and work towards building a better world.

I don't know if anyone will listen to what I have to say. But, I've been becoming increasingly unstable through all of this and I really feel drawn towards trying to do whatever I can with my life to help others. Along with all the obvious reasons I feel like this is the direction I need to go with my life, selfishly as well, I feel as though if I don't try to do something meaningful, I will eventually end up killing myself, and I really don't want to do that.

With the arrival of my computer, and as I am beginning to compile research, I figured I might as well dedicate a little bit of time back into this community and see if I haven't completely lost it. I was hoping to return to @herbertholmes , but I seem to have lost my key. I do believe it still exists- however, I cannot find it anywhere; so I decided it may be best to create a new account.

Upon my return, initially, Steemit looked like an entirely different platform. Not in terms of the formatting, but in terms of the content. Furthermore, after a little poking around, it seems that most of my old Steemit friends have since left the platform. It has been so long I don't even know where to start in terms of getting back involved in individual STEEM projects and communities. I hope to re-learn quickly, and to learn what has happened in my absence.

That's all I've got for now. If anyone remembers Herbert Holmes, and we've talked before, I would LOVE to reconnect with you. I would also love to hear about any other platforms people have been using recently. I do want to get more involved in crypto--- something I was not really financially able to do in the past(my financial situation is no better now, but I'm learning to use my money in more productive ways). So anyone who would like to give me any suggestions or "coach" me on developments that have occurred in the past few years- well, I'd appreciate that greatly.

I don't even remember how to format correctly. I hope this is somewhat readable.

[Source: Tyler Sheilds]

<3

Erik / Herbert