"FINDING YOUR POTENTIAL." "My Curie Story."

‘FINDING YOUR POTENTIAL.’ MY CURIE STORY.

“Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is, you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And WHAT YOUR POTENTIAL IS!” Anne Frank.

A few days ago I decided to find out who the new Team Australia recruits were by reading @choogirl’s latest 'New Recruits' blog. (She is a very entertaining and gifted writer.) It is always interesting to meet fellow Aussies, find out where they live and learn a bit about them.

It was there that I also read about Curie’s “Call for Help.’ That certainly grabbed my attention as I am one of the many beneficiaries of a generous and highly impactful ‘Curie’ upvote. (Three, in fact.) I have been unsure how to express my gratitude for these gifts, so learning about the new, “mycuriestory’ tag was all I needed to encourage me to share My Curie Story.

I was introduced to Steemit well over a year ago and when I took a look, I thought it all seemed too complicated. I noticed also that blogging was required and that put me off. Not because I don’t like writing, but I had been a recluse for many years and was comfortable in my small little world. Comfortable, but not completely fulfilled, despite enjoying close and rewarding family relationships and the love from a few loyal and supportive friends.

Drug addiction had robbed me of my personality, caused me to withdraw from people and doubt my ability to communicate with confidence as my memory and ability to concentrate had suffered considerably. The drugs that were supposed to help me nearly destroyed me. As a chronic insomniac, I was forced to take sleeping pills to get through my working day. Once on that toxic treadmill, it was a monumental battle to break free.

But, Thank God, I was able to withdraw completely from the drugs and slowly, oh so slowly, find my way back to the land of the living once more. My creative passions began to stir within me again and I discovered a social media platform enabling me to share my new hobby of photography which gave me a lot of joy.

That site folded, so I took up painting, and continued to take photos. But what to do with them? That was the question. Yes, they were pleasantly received on FB, however, try as I might, I just cannot warm to FB. I opened a FAA (Fine Art America) website and enjoyed interacting with friends there, all the while hoping for a sale of my work. One Sale! Just one sale would have meant the world to me. But it never happened. And then a friend told me she was having a lot of fun in Steemit. I took another look. And all I could see was that ‘B’ word again. (Blogging) I told my friend that I would think about it…….and thankfully I did.

Why did the thought of Blogging cause me such anxiety? I have had a book published, so it wasn’t writing per se, that was the problem. Writing in Steemit meant that I would have to ‘think’ which in turn, would require me to ‘concentrate’ and I was nervous about revealing my insecurities about myself by writing even small personal snippets. I wasn’t ready to come out of my self-imposed shell. I was however, prepared to submit photos, share others posts and interact within the confines of those posts. But Steemit (and a few select steemit friends) have a way of coaxing more out of me than what I have intended.

I will gladly admit that the idea of receiving monetary rewards for my efforts was very appealing. As a retired pensioner, I saw this as a way of supplementing our income and even if it took a while to build a little nest egg, at least it would be fun trying. The more involved I became, the more I enjoyed my time and I quickly became addicted to Steemit. It has done wonders for me and I truly value the relationships I have formed in this great community.

Every now and then I noticed sizeable dollar values appearing on people’s posts. And it was no coincidence that the posts in question were well written, beautifully presented and contained quality content. I was happy for them but didn’t give much thought about how or if this might happen for me. Until my husband and I were invited to go fishing with our son and granddaughter. Usually I have a fishing rod in my hand when out at sea but on this trip I decided to take my camera…….just in case. Well, the camera hardly left my hand as there were so many interesting things to capture.

When I checked the photos the following day, I knew I would be turning my fishing trip into a blog. It took a long time to prepare but I was on a high after spending such an enjoyable day with my family. Once I commit to something, I generally persevere until I get the job done. I was pleased with my efforts, got the post submitted and went to bed exhausted.

In the morning my husband (who is enjoying my steemit journey almost as much as I am) was hovering around the bed waiting for me to wake up. He knows what a light sleeper I am and that every hour of sleep is as precious as gold to me. He would not wake me up unless the house was on fire. I pretended I didn’t know he was waiting patiently, willing me awake. But he would not leave the room. I prized one heavy eyelid open. His grin was the first thing I saw. My IPad was the second thing.

“Is this an emergency?” I ask him?
“Well not exactly,” he replies, “but you will want to hear my news.”
“This better be good,” I grumbled as I snuggled beneath the sheets.
“We’ve hit the jackpot,” he whispers loudly in my ear.
“I’m awake now. You don’t have to whisper……and what on earth are you talking about?”

He shoves the IPad under my nose and I see for myself what had happened overnight with my post. I couldn’t believe my eyes. We were both ecstatic and I was so encouraged. I looked at all the votes and couldn’t for the life of me work out how so many people had managed to see this one post within a few hours of it being submitted and concluded that there must be a team of people who band together and vote as one. This seemingly random act of kindness did more for me that I can explain and made me determined to continue to improve my photography and writing skills and to produce quality content.

It has happened two more times with less financial value but with equal emotional value, because on both these occasions I had been struggling to motivate myself due to the downturn in Steem. I have kept my eyes on the goals I want to achieve in Steemit but I do wonder occasionally if I should be doing other things with my time. Because it takes time to produce quality posts. And when you reach my age, time becomes a much treasured commodity and sometimes when I am tired, I post something that hasn’t required a lot of effort but still brings me pleasure.

Oh the irony! The very thing that prevented me from joining Steemit initially, was the thing that gave me the biggest boost to my confidence. 'Blogging!' I just needed to dig a little deeper and tap into potential I didn't know I had.

I’ve had one negative experience during my 3 months + of being in Steemit and after revealing the situation to a few experienced Team Australia members I was given immediate and effective support which meant a lot to me. I know others have been on the receiving end of critical and abusive words in Steemit and I can’t understand the futile mentality behind these actions.

We hold immense power in the words we speak or write and I am blessed every day with the positive, encouraging words from an ever widening group of followers here and I am grateful for every one of them. I haven’t heard @curie’s voice as such but he/she/they, say so much with their kind and enormously encouraging upvotes (along with other notable benefactors such as @hendrickdegrote, @meerkat, @anwenbaumeister and many others) and I want to say “Thank You,” for keeping my new addiction alive and well. Thank you also to the wonderful Team Australia and Team New Zealand, South Pacific group for your awesome support.

Thank you for helping me find my potential in these latter years of my life. I am more than happy to trade my knitting needles and rocking chair for my speedy Granny walker as it gets me from ‘Post’ to ‘Post’ with the enthusiasm of a teenager on high powered skate boards.

“Today will never come again. Be a Blessing. Be a Friend. Encourage someone. Take time to care. Let your words heal, and not wound.” (Unknown)