Finally, I've arrived!

 
         To be completely honest, this is an odd place for me to find myself. The online world has not been somewhere that I have placed much of my time or efforts into getting to know in the past few years. Although I still harbor these sentiments today I believe that I have finally come to a place in the online sphere were true progress and growth can come for not only myself but those that inhabit this community. My close friend @neeqi has thrown herself headfirst into this realm and I have seen a fire that's been building in intensity from the time she began using this platform. Day by day this flame has continued to be fueled by her communities support of the passions she is able to share with them because of the frame work #steemit has created.

@neeqi and I

No happier place than traveling on the open road
         For the longest time I had zero faith in the benefits of social media. It was rare for me to see nothing more than empathy crushing machines where keyboard warriors would relentlessly attack those that were just trying to create or simply express themselves in their own way. Could it be that this platform has cracked the code and brought a whole new light to this dimension of our reality? I believe the answer to this question is a resounding YES! Before writing this post I have browsed content from cyrptocurrencies to art and overwhelmingly have found people to be supportive of the content that people are creating and for me this is truly refreshing to see. Alright, enough about the platform, you all are already aware of this beautiful experiment still in the making.

Source

         The title that I have chosen for this post is a reference to Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken (read it here) which is one piece of writing that resonates with me very deeply at this point in my life but first some backstory to set the stage. Growing up in California I had a typical life path in front of me; graduate high school, go to university, find the girl, buy the house with the white picket fence. You know the drill, that American dream BS that's shoved down our throats from an early age. This direction that my life was heading slowly began to diverge off course when I began to experiment with cannabis in my freshman year of university. All of the lies and deception implanted in my understanding of the substance were quickly proven to be false thus leading me to begin to question everything else I had been taught by my mentors. The largest change to my life's direction came in my third year when I went out into the forest with my roommates and took a large dose of psilocybin mushrooms. This not only changed my life forever but would shift my perspective so deeply that I would never be able to look at reality in the same manner. It was as if I had been shown a glimpse into what is and how the illusion of our lives is nothing more than that, an illusion. All of those major markers I was told I needed to check off in order to achieve happiness all of the sudden did not seem to be that important. At this point I began to dig deeper into spirituality by practicing meditation and engaging in studies about everything from eastern theologies to Ayurvedic practices. This is the time in my life when I really began to walk down the path less traveled and saw on future horizons only an alternative lifestyle to the one I had been raised believing would be my future. This distant horizon began to really come into focus the moment I spent significant time outside of my home country. For the first time I felt that I was on a path that I had entirely chosen for myself and it felt incredible! That was nearly six years ago now and the amazing feeling I receive from travel has yet to subside as I sit her writing this now at age 26. I am currently out on another bout of extended travel and remain as content and comfortable as the day I left all those years ago. Hopefully this brief history of almost a decade of my existences has painted a semi tangible picture of the person I am today. You may be asking yourself, "when is this guy going to stop yacking about himself and tell us what he plans on adding to this platform?" I'm so glad you asked!

One of the best memories abroad

         As I said before the online space isn't something I have invest much time into but I want to give it a full effort on Steemit. I have many things that I hold dear to my heart and I hope to share them with those that are interested and hope to find others that want to share in my passions so we can all grow collectively. Obviously, as shown in the last paragraph, the main passion in my life is traveling the world. I plan to document my travels well this time around so I can not only share where I have been and what I am doing but to also enhance anyone's experience that wishes to experience similar travel to what I myself have done. This hopefully will come with deeper story telling about the in's and outs of places I spend my time and useful tips that everyone can benefit from. I know I have learned much from pouring over travel blogs in the past and I wish to pass on the knowledge I acquire so the next person can find use in these things I have discovered. Another huge passion of mine is cooking! Sorry my carnivore friends, you won't be getting much help from me about properly reverse searing a steak. No worries though, I have no beef with people who eat meat! I intentionally abstain from telling people what food choices they should be making. I have chosen to eat a mostly plant based diet (I love cheese!!) for the past two years now so the recipes, cooking tips, and overall cuisine that I will be sharing is going to fall into that sector. I hope to help people find joy in preparing their own healthy and delicious meals while also picking up as many tips for myself along the way. The next part of my life I wish to share with the community is music. I play the ukulele and djembe and have recently picked up the guitar and started to learn how to play. I am always trying to learn new styles and if their is some way we can jam out I would love for this to happen! In time I would enjoy utilizing the #dtube live feature to play for anyone who would like to listen. When I play I like to imagine that I am playing in front of an audience but stage fright is a very real thing so it has never occurred up to this point. Maybe dtube live will allow me to start to overcome this fear! I also have a deep love for Hip-Hop and have very strong feelings about its current state in present days. This is a topic I will definitely be posting on. Not just explaining my feelings about the nature of this music but also doing vignettes on my favorite artists and how they have so deeply influenced this culture. Lastly, I wish to continue a practice that I have recently just started involving vlogging on a daily basis. This has become my personal diary in recent weeks and I find that I have become much more comfortable speaking to a camera and the more I speak the more seams to arise from within me. I believe that the more vulnerable I can be and the more that is put out there the more that will come back. It especially feels like the most proper way to get closer to people in the communities I wish to find and become a part of on Steemit. This is why I have tried to be as open and honest in this introduction. No smoke and mirrors; just pure truth. I can not wait to see what this platform will allow me to do and I hope for growth, learning, and development not only for myself but for all those that I interact with or who interact with my content. We are all better when we work together, I can not wait to grow with you. Much love and thank you for taking the time to read.

See you out there,
Tyler_the_Curious