Jay: A New Face in the Steemit Community

Hello everyone! How is your day going?

My name is Jay, and I am one of the new faces here in Steemit.

Hi guys! So I'm trying hard to pose like an Instagram blogger here. Hahaha.

From the many things I heard about this platform (for which some are still confusing as of the moment), one thing made me 100% sure in officially joining: Steemit is a community where people welcome and support each other through the creations that they make and share.

Sounds cheesy for an intro? Haha, I guess. Despite the cliché-ness of it, that fact alone made me more relaxed and confident to talk about myself and my intentions of joining here. So, let’s start!

Who is Jay?

I am 23 years old living in Cebu City, Philippines. I am a chemical engineer by profession, but I found myself wanting to go to graduate school (Master of Science in Chemical Engineering) so technically I am a full-time student as of the moment.

My graduate school classmates who are coming from different walks of life. Despite the few numbers, we manage to be comfortable with each other and become each other's support system as we go through the struggles of studying for our master's degree.

Just to break the first impression of some of you, I just want to say first that I am not a nerd nor a fan of the Chemical Engineering field. I think most of us agree on the fact that life has been so confusing at times that we sometimes find ourselves in places that we least expect. So yes, here I am, about to be swallowed by the overwhelming level of Math that are so far from the “1 + 1 = 2” thing that we knew when we were still young (just an exaggeration. Hahaha. Actually, I just sleep it out if I don’t understand anything, which happens most of the time).

We can describe through words how the water moves once it enters inside the water pipes as we take a shower to start the day. Advanced Mathematics can tell the same thing through this equation alone. Isn't it cool? Haha. I think otherwise if I don't get things right sometimes.

Being the eldest and the breadwinner of the family, I shoulder the almost-never-ending life expenses through the scholarship benefits that I get from studying in graduate school, as well as the extra jobs that I am currently in as an online English (ESL) teacher and a private tutor in Chemistry, Mathematics and Chemical Engineering. Just like everyone, life has been challenging and busy for me lately, but I believe our attitude matters more than the issues we deal with. I love to believe that I am in an overload of opportunities showered upon me at the same time. Who am I to complain? I consider myself blessed.

My family is my treasure! <3

I am a futuristic kind of guy, so most of my hobbies and interests revolve on the idea that “maybe I can use this hobby for the future”. I like to learn various languages, cook dishes, and do household chores. I know the third one is weird for an interest, but maybe a few of you, like me, consider cleaning the house as therapeutic and relaxing to the mind.

These are my language notebooks. My fascination to learning various languages started with my addiction to anime 11 years ago. Until now I am still not fluent to any of these, but I can write some Japanese, a few of Chinese and almost all Korean characters. My focus for this year is to be able to be familiar with basic French conversation.

To be honest, I still think I’m too young to really know the things that I want to have and to be clear on what I want to be. As I wake up each day, the only thing I am sure about is that I want to make the best out of the life given to me and not lose the drive in providing meaning to the things that I do.

I would love to share more details of my life, but I believe it is proper that I begin first with how I arrived here in Steemit.

How I Learned About Steemit

My journey to Steemit started with an invitation from a very close friend of mine, Gail (@thegaillery), to collaborate with her on a one-year project about confidence through blogging. She knew I couldn’t reject the idea, because she knew I have always been wanting to do this ever since. We initially planned to launch the project through our separate blogs, but things turned out well when Gail decided to better start it in Steemit, which I believe is a strategic one, given the nature of this community.

The Confidence Project meeting with Gail. We are working hard to prepare something good for your guys! Teehee!

Have you heard about The Confidence Project (TCP) here in Steemit? The launching of the project’s manifesto started a few days ago, which basically includes what the project is all about, the mechanism as to how the project will go, and the approach that the project incorporates to make it more effective, on schedule and interactive to the people who want to take part in this initiative.

The Confidence Project (TCP) Banner

The basic idea about The Confidence Project is that confidence is something that can be built, not a talent nor a special skill only given to some. We envision that through this project, more people will be bootstrapped on the notion that with consistent practice and with valid evidences, they can truthfully declare to themselves and to others that they are confident at a thing that they want to be good at.

You can check out the full details of the project here, as well as the project’s first takeaway here. For this month, @thegaillery will be the host for the first takeaway and challenge, so I hope that you find this project interesting and will support and actively participate the challenges. The whole TCP journey will be fun since we will choose winners for every challenge and reward them with SBD. How cool is that?

I hope that as I grow with this project together with you guys, we can become the best versions of ourselves in the long run.

So basically, The Confidence Project opened the doors for me to explore Steemit. Of course, when we talk about opportunities, a domino of opening doors is in store for us to show what more we do have for people to be excited about.

What Can I Contribute in Steemit?

Here are some of the things that I want to start here in Steemit:

The Confidence Project

As one of the co-founders of this project, I will also take part in establishing and hosting the takeaways and challenges. I am utterly nervous and excited at the same time, so I hope to have more encounters with you soonest in the next coming months through TCP.

My Personal How-Tos

If there is one thing that I cannot forget in my Ethics class way back in the university, it is the fact that humans will always have the inner desire to improve the quality of their lives. The challenge lies on the steps that each one of us has to follow in order to improve every aspect of it, may it be on a seemingly irrelevant thing as riding a public transportation, to the bigger ones like organizing tasks in a long-term project that you are working on.

Image Source
To contribute to the human’s natural desire to make their lives better and more efficient, I plan to share my ideas on optimizing how we do some mundane activities that we don’t usually put too much attention. I want to start on the small things, as these play an integral part to the bigger and more important ones. To make it direct to the point, I want to present it in bullets for easy digestion in the head.

Reviews on My Experiences in Travelling and Reading

I want this year to be full of outdoor adventures and additional life perspectives, so I also want to share my experiences in the places that I will travel. I believe most of us love to find a fragment of ourselves by traveling, and so sharing my experiences with you will surely help you on that quest.

Can you guess what place is this? I will tell you more about this soon in my next blog post.

I consider myself a deep person in terms of understanding the message of the books that I read, and so it will be more beneficial to share what I realize from the chapters of information that I read from time to time.

What are my expectations?

Connect with people.

As I roamed around the world of Steemit, I realized I entered a community of creative and enthusiastic people. I felt a tinge of intimidation at first because I might not be as active as others, but on a brighter side this is an opportunity for me to learn from each one of you through the posts that you make. People are tied together through the same experiences that they encounter, or on the similar ideas that they both believe in. With that, I believe I can find people whom I have the same experiences and ideas and connect with them in the long run.

Come into terms with myself through writing.

We tend to settle our personal issues, especially the ones that we cannot really share, mostly by reflecting on it or by writing it out in a journal. As a believer of the concept of duality, I think both internal and external factors contribute to the struggles and issues that we deal with. I want to settle my weak points by indulging more on expressing myself creatively through writing and sharing quality content.

Have fun!

I suppose this is a necessary ingredient in every undertaking. I hope to boost my motivation to be a better person by enjoying every aspect of my Steemit experience.


So yes, that’s it for my first ever post in Steemit. Hooray! I am hoping that we get to keep in touch with each other as we go along through this platform. Thank you for reading!



Love lots,
@jsmalila