First of all, Happy New Year, Steemians!

Second, let's all agree on this one: it's been a long year and, to be honest, a difficult one. The bear crypto market took its toll on all projects, STEEM included, and things are far from the enthusiasm and exuberance we were enjoying around the same time last year.

STEEM, as a token, trades 10 times less than it traded a year ago. On this exact day, in 2017, one STEEM was changing hands for $3.02, whereas now it's $0.27. Just 4 days later, on January 4th 2017, we had the ATH, at $8/STEEM. Those were good times.

But that's how life is, my friends, every high is followed by a low, and every low is followed by a high. It's the unending, circle-based, always returning to itself Samsara, and we're all just temporary figments in this collective illusion. We have very little control over what's happening to us, but the good news is that we do have a lot of control over how we react to what's happening to us.

So, even if we're in the Valley of Despair right now, I'd say let's cheer up a little, let's keep looking forward and try to enjoy the ride, while always preparing for the worst, but expecting the best.

So, once again, here's for a much better 2019, my friends! Thanks for all your attention, for all your feedback, for all your support.

And one small reminder: as of tomorrow, the first 30 days writing challenge of the year will start. That means we will write every day on the topic "best practices". From best practices on cooking pasta, to best practices on investing in crypto, let's all share our knowledge, hone our skills and keep the community growing.

As I already wrote, this challenge marks the beginning of the @challenge30days account, which will upvote all the posts who qualify. And, to qualify, here are some basic rules:

• post must be at least 300 words long
• post must be original
• post must be on best practices
• post must used the #challenge30days tag

And last, but certainly not least: if you're a whale in this ecosystem and care about this project, you can always help it by delegating some SP to the @challenge30days account.

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I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.

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