Don’t give yourself away - Steem Power and the Self [Musing of a Meandering Mind]

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The small number of things you can vote for each day without decimating your voting power seems so frustrating when faced with the ocean of amazing content this platform has to offer. There are so many fascinating posts, so many unique insights, so much creativity, entire worlds to be discovered. How do you limit yourself, when your vote costs about 2% of your power, and you only seem to recover at about a 1% an hour (although this may vary user to user).

On reflection, this can be a good thing. In a world of constant interaction, you give yourself away bit by bit every day. Real and sincere interaction both takes and gives back, something mirrored in voting and curation.

You can only be so much, to so many people, and still leave space for yourself.

The modern life so many of us lead is filled with the constant, meaningless, liking of countless inane posts, status updates. Sharing in every moment. It becomes meaningless. When you like everything, how much can you really like one thing? By limiting your vote, Steemit gives it more meaning. If you get carried away, and spend a day captivated by creations you cannot help but vote for, you find you have to take a break and let your voting power recover.

This forced change of pace has led to me reflect on my day to day interactions. It is not that some interactions lack sincerity, just that you can only give so much each day, before what you give has a lesser value. I feel like you can only truly care about so many people and their lives in a day. I studied Counselling in Uni, and found the idea of genuinely being there for 5+ people a day, in and out in hour long sessions, incomprehensible. To be there for someone else, in some ways comes at the expense of yourself, which is why all counsellors have their own counsellors to balance this immense giving every day. People who so readily want to support others, do so to the point they need their own support. There are many reasons counsellors see counsellors themselves, you take someone’s hand and enter their darkest world so many times, you in turn need someone to take yours. Because one person can only give so much.

I can’t help but wonder, if we were just real with each other, if we took the time to really hear those around us, what difference could we make to those who really matter?

There are parallels between power delegation and helping others. You can delegate power to others, but if you give away too much, your own vote drops, reducing the value of your upvote. I feel like life is the same, you can lend your strength to others, but if you don’t keep some back for yourself, you find what you offer others has less value. It is important to keep something back.

If your voting percentage drops too low, your vote becomes worthless. If you give all your time to others, you eventually burn out, and find things take a greater toll on you than they should. Eventually you reach a point where you start letting people down, where you can’t be there when they need you, because you have given too much, for too long. Just as we are learning to keep our steem power above a minimum percentage, maybe we should consider the same for ourselves. Keep just enough back, take just enough time for yourself. You can’t put others first all the time.

Don’t give yourself away too easily. Think about the people who really matter, be there for them, and take time to do things just for you.

My cousin, a woman of wonderful insight, first suggested to me that I set aside time each day, or each week, to do things that are just for me. Things that don’t benefit anyone else. At first I was repelled by this, something nagged in my mind, it seemed like self-indulgence, selfishness, time that could be better spent elsewhere. But I respected her enough to give it a go. It was hard at first, even trying to think of something I could do that was just for me seemed impossible. I did not realise it at the time, but I was pulled at the plug in a dam. Things I have wanted, hopes, dreams, things that were just for me, I had pushed to one side, dismissed. Built a wall in front of. It took a lot of tugging, but the plug came out, the damn burst, and I realised how much I needed to do things for myself. That by strengthening by own base, I was also strengthening what I had to offer, what I could give freely to others.

I have come to understand accepting, or even loving, yourself is not the same as pride, as vanity, or self-importance. Don’t be ashamed of what makes you happy. By making yourself happy, you are better equipping yourself to be able make others happy.

Make time to be real with others, you may not get to like as many things, you may not get to scroll through pages and pages of social media, equally bored and mesmerised. In that same time, you could have one or two real interactions. Actual moments of human connection, that ultimately mean so much more than any number of votes, likes, or even that coveted little blue tick.

These are just the musing of a meandering mind, questions for reflections…

I would like to share this challenge, could you make time every day to do something just for you? Could you manage once a week? How much do you mean to yourself? How much do you mean to those you care about the most? Are you putting yourself in the best position to be everything you want to be to them? I'm also putting this forward for the Power of Positivity contest, please check out all the entries as found here.