Steemit Relationship: Clearing the air. (200+sbd & 10,000sp delegation challenge!)
Hey Loves! I've been somewhat offline for the last week. It's been my birthday (31!!) and my little brother's birthday. I've been hanging out with my family, and my girlfriend whom I haven't seen for about a month. So naturally Steemit has taken a back burner for a bit.
I want to hear about your relationship with Steemit.
In relationships, I'm a big believer in talking about EVERYTHING!!!
Obviously, there's a balance, if you only talk with a partner about your fears, doubts, and uncertainty, things probably won't last long. You also need a STRONG vision to be working on together. But, if you never manage to give voice to yours fear, they fester and grow, and your love crumbles from within.
Luckily for us, Steemit is a really badass partner and she's not going to get triggered by anything any one of us has to say. So you might as well lay it all out there.
I'll go first
My romance with Steemit really fired off with a bang! Obsession is not the wrong word here. It has been extremely viscerally exciting, I am often thinking about her. Due to this, I'm going to focus on two pieces.
- First, some of my own doubts, fears, and observations of my own relationship
- Second, some possible visions for the future
I am a big believer that WHY we do something is one of the most important aspects of doing anything. What we're doing, and how we're doing it are interesting as well...but to me the WHY is the holy grail. And one thing that has been very prevalent for me is The Reward. I check my Steemit account habitually, and without fail, one of the FIRST things I do when I go to my blog page is look hopefully towards the post reward to see if it has grown. I've even caught myself looking over all my posts, and scanning the reward to try and make myself feel good about them. If you have any stories or ideas about this, please share with me!!!
Like...look what I did, I made something. There have been a lot of great posts on this subject across Steemit, and this is a challenge for me. I catch myself thinking about how much a post might make when I'm working on it, when I'm thinking about how to do it. And I don't actually like this mindshare, I want to be approaching this from another direction, and it's hard for me.
In this same vein, I have actually met a LOT of really inspiring people on Steemit, people who I admire, and love(You know who you are!!!) And often times I wish I knew how to tell them how inspiring they are...and sometimes I perhaps manage to.
What are we building together?
Another thing about Relationships, is COLLECTIVE WORK, and COLLECTIVE VISION! And Steemit thus far seems to have more of this going on then any other Crypto in the sphere. But it could be so much more. What do we want it to mean to be a Steemian? What are we doing here?!?!? What do we want people from the outside looking in to see?!?!?
I think there could be huge opportunities to contribute to the wellbeing of humanity, and all of our diverse life of our planet...we're starting to rise up, starting a wave, and what will that wave reach for? Will it be a wave of millions of individuals reaching and clawing their way to larger post rewards? Or will we be raising up those who might not currently be able to raise themselves?
Attention.
This is a huge one for me...I am absolutely loving my time on Steemit, and yet, it and thus the post reward has been an object of a lot of my focus over the last month. Ultimately, I want to be living a lot of my life with in the wild, exploring relationship with our non-human relatives, and nurturing the soil. How can Steemit and I have a balanced relationship, where I'm not thinking about her all the time...and instead, I don't even notice 'her', because I'm so in love with all of the ideas and thoughts, and games, and stories coming from her PEOPLE!!??!?!
That being said...there are a lot of folks stuck in shitty jobs out there...and I do believe it's an incredible gift to be able to post about things that you love, that fire up your skin, and pour life into your bones, and receive some kind of income from it. I don't think money is going away tomorrow, and I would much rather see some artists, writers, musicians, programmers, homesteaders, photographers, and so many others starting to build a community that supports them financially and spiritually from their arts then those people stuck working in a job that they hate, serving the misery machine.
But as for myself, I haven't had a very balanced start with Steemit. Also, it's very representative of my own patterns, when I find something I'm excited about, I pour myself into it, quite intensively. I am hoping to be able to re-shape this as my life unfolds...
One more aspect of Attention...I find myself starting to resent some of the more obvious 'weak connections' that are splattered across our community as a whole. Some examples of these are
- the introduction bots posting kind of spammy, look at my shit stuff
- "cool post, come check out my poopy butthole" comments
- the promotion centered environment around Discord/Steemit.chat
- posts about making money on steemit
But perhaps these only bug me because they are overt expressions of my own inner desire to be successful, and receive lots of external feedback, applause, glory, admiration, whatever.
So here's the deal the today you gorgeous radical Steemin human beans...I want your help in shaping my relationship to Steemit.
If you feel inspired, please share with me some of your own relationship with Steemit...doubts, challenges, gratitudes, everything goes.
I will toss every comment with an oz of thought and feeling into a hat, and randomly choose one. Additionally, I will personally choose one that I find most vulnerable/honest/inspiring. Each winner will receive 100SBD + 50% of this post reward. (if for some reason, this post gets massive upvotes, I will break this down into 3 or 4 winners instead of 2)
Last, but not least, I want each of you to nominate ONE PERSON on Steemit who is focused on encouraging, uplifting, appreciating, and building up OTHERS over themselves.
These entries will also be tossed into a hat, and I will randomly draw one, and personally choose one. Each winner will receive a 5000SP delegation from me for three weeks, to help them ply their trade :P
100% of your upvotes go out as rewards here, so don't be shy =)
mmmm very thoughtful and heartful @itchykitten
I can relate to a lot of what you're saying, and what others are saying in the comments. Steemit definitely has that addictive reward-based pull for me, too. I am one of those artists you mention who loves doing so many things I never feel that my talents are fully utilized or my values are fully reflected in any job, nor are my interests the kinds of things that our world commercially rewards. So that pie in the sky dream of "maybe I could just post about all the things I am so actually passionate about and want to make a difference in and maybe make enough of a living to get by" appeals to me, too. Big time.
It also scares me, that addictive pull. That excitement has kept me up nights, woken me up in the middle of sleep, distracted me from other things that really need attention, and at it's scariest, I worried that it could pull me away from the in-person world of direct experience and physically-co-created relationship that is what really nourishes and sustains me and the world.
I think part of what I'm calling addictive nature of this is the game-like elements, the reward system, and, for me, the sense of unknown. Part of why I love Steemit is because it's a big experiment- we have no idea where it will go.
If I have one piece of advice for you it's that: really letting yourself be OK with the fact that you can't control it, or even necessarily understand it. And while that is exciting a lot of the time, it can also be something that allows you to take a step back when you need to. If you're going to dance with addiction, best to acknowledge where you have power and where you don't, and act accordingly. Cuz abstinence isn't all that fun, is it.
As for "What could this be?" I definitely share your hopes that Steemit could be an actually very positive force in the world, and I see ways in which some things that are really popular and being rewarded highly are just reflections of culture I actually don't want to see keep thriving.
In terms of positive potential, I think of Steemit as having the potential to be a valuation mechanism, organizing tool, and promotion tool for causes that actually matter. For instance, I could see some place-based hashtags being used to rally people to accomplish stuff "IRL" ... or people making postings of offerings, like a class they could teach in person, and then being valued and rewarded by the community at large for doing so, which might enable them to give those classes free or cheap to people who can't pay in dollars. But in order for that to happen, the culture of Steemit has to shift in this direction, and clearly, it all ready does for many.
Further, I think Steemit as a crypto has some pretty radical potential in terms of generating funds for massive projects, for wealth and land redistribution, for forms of collectivized ownership, that to me are among the biggest dreams I can dream up for it. I mean, what if Steemians together bought, like, a town somewhere? And then that town could never again be bought or sold? And everyone in it pooled their talents and resources and it was a paradise? Doesn't seem impossible.
Edited to add appreciation for how you live your values, and how this post is all at once an instance of what you want Steemit to be, an action for making that happen, and a rallying cry. <3
mhmmmmmm!!!! I always appreciate getting to see some of your perspective Jared.
I love this... Where IS the power? And no. Abstinence isn't fun at all. Lol...I'm a lucky shit in that respect last few years. Strange thing, I feel less need to have sex recently then I have in the past...and it's really sweet! It's smoothing out my rough spots I think. I feel more relaxed. Given, I probably have a lot more sex on a regular basis than most people. But I like that I'm not so focused on it...and it still happens =) Yay!!! maybe Steemit can be like that too...I can be not entirely obsessed with it, and it still happens, and it's beautiful.
An another note, El ChanChan got hit by a car =( We found him.. It's been a weird thing...I still can't quite believe he's actually dead some moments. It's been really hard, definitely a system shock. I'm thinking that I would like to take it as an opportunity for reshaping myself a bit... We found him probably 4 days after he had been hit...so it was a lot of not knowing, worrying, hoping, trying to stay positive...and after we found him, definitely felt like somebody ripped off one of my limbs for a few days...just a big hole in my chest. I was feeling pretty somber for a while, trying to work towards the positive things.
I love you Jared!!! Thank you for being in my life. It's pretty exciting to get to access a part of you on here =)
So sorry about Chan Chan, and your loss. I'm going through real grief myself lately, also as a newcomer to really feeling that, so I really feel for you. It's a strange process, and for me, it hits hard suddenly and unexpectedly and it can infuse everything I'm doing. Life is so, so precious. Feeling for you, brother.
I'm delighted to hear your relationship with sex is shifting away from needing it. That needing part, that must be the darkest side of addiction, the worst kind being when somebody can't go without. Your question, where IS the power, is a great one. Where indeed. On one hand, the power is in the relationship, your consciousness and honesty with yourself about it, and your own cultivation of the ability to leave patterns behind when they don't serve the bigger picture. On the other hand, the power is in the greater ecosystem of your life, the way that you receive nourishment and/or live in balance with every other part of your life. The most addicted people I know are filling needs unmet by the rest of their relationships with whatever is comfortable and familiar to them rather than diversify their lives. Just my 2c,I struggle with these issues on the daily.
Feeling super grateful the world has you in it, that you grace my life, and that I get to see some of your fun parts in the digisphere when you're not close enough to touch, @itchykitten. Love you!!
FRIEND SPEAKS MY MIND! As we Quakers say...
I started out strong, 3 posts in 3 days after not writing anything extensive in ages. Saw and interacted with AWESOME people, in no small part thanks to you, @itchykitten. I fell in love with this place.
Then I went on VACAY (whoop!) in Costa Rica for 2 weeks. I made a conscious choice not to bring my laptop, and more than all the other shit I do on the interwebs, I thought about Steemit more than any of them <3 :) She was suddenly a new romance, a day dream, a new perspective, a new Instagram filter, on how I thought about portraying my life later. Which is by definition the enemy of presence, but AT THE SAME TIME gives you the gift of deeper observation and internal narrative which can be beneficial for self and other reflection. I still haven't posted anything about my travels, I got back at 2am last night and had 3 hours of sleep (Thanks Baby) and I may or may not choose to share that soon. But taking 2 weeks and not looking at it after the initial coming out party was a major breathe of fresh air. I found myself thinking alot about some of the same empowering questions that you are asking here - WHAT FUCKING SPECTACULAR QUESTIONS!!!
"What do we want it to mean to be a Steemian? What are we doing here?!?!? What do we want people from the outside looking in to see?!?!?
How can Steemit and I have a balanced relationship, where I'm not thinking about her all the time...and instead, I don't even notice 'her', because I'm so in love with all of the ideas and thoughts, and games, and stories coming from her PEOPLE!!??!?!"
And THIS is the part which you said which REALLY GOT ME:
I think there could be huge opportunities to contribute to the wellbeing of humanity, and all of our diverse life of our planet...we're starting to rise up, starting a wave, and what will that wave reach for? Will it be a wave of millions of individuals reaching and clawing their way to larger post rewards? Or will we be raising up those who might not currently be able to raise themselves?
We have to evolve social media here to actually CONTRIBUTE VALUE, and of course to REGENERATE OUR RELATIONSHIPS with all beings around us, in reality of here in the interweb reality.
We need fucking VR for the fucking Regenerative Resistance!
Steemit could be a platform for that awesome shit if we make it that. It could be a platform from which to fly, from which to fall, to win, to lose...basically to be on the journey that is but an extension of our lives here on this plane. How are we going to show up? With our FULL POTENTIAL and Promising Beyond Capacity so that we give ourselves the chance...nay, the opportunity! to RISE TO MEETING THIS ONE WILD AND PRECIOUS LIFE TO BE FORCES FOR REGENERATION WITH ALL OUR FUCKING FORCE! OUR FIERCE LOVE OF EACHOTHER & THIS PLANET WE CALL MOTHER!!!!!
Amen. <3 I'm off to a summer potluck at my best friend's delightful home in the Endless Mountains , where bluegrass music and volleyball and food and delicious libations and abundant laughter will abound.
Because That's How We Do.
Love You @ItchyKiten! So Happy To Be In This Space with You Right Meeeooooowwww!!! Ciao xox
Well written, sister. Thoughtful and loving. Following ya.
Itchy I've missed you! Glad you're back but also glad (and somehow jealous) that you took the time to be away. I feel like I've had a pretty unbalanced start as well. And holy fuck I do the same thing with post rewards EVEN AFTER I posted this article about how Steemit was about the content, NOT the payout. You even commented and we spoke about how we both struggle with this.
Update: Still struggling. Haha I'm like you in that I sort of dive all the way into something when I'm attracted to it and it's hard to separate yourself and remember that you have a life and there's awesome sunsets to see OUTSIDE. I'm working on that everyday.
Your post got me thinking though, about why I immediately wanted to comment on this... because of the award? Yes. Because we're human and we're greedy. But it was also because I think you're a rad dude and I really like listening to you and I hope to talk with you more about these types of things.
So, wrapping up I don't know if this comment has even made any sense I feel like I'm just rambling at this point... haha Wrapping up.. I think it's great that you're spreading the wealth to folks that comment with their heart and soul, BUT I also had the thought... is this (using a SBD reward) feeding our SBD hungry minds? Would it make it worse? I'm not sure. But I don't want to feel like I really am solely motivated by getting rewards, I'd rather you just know that I really love what you wrote and it's helped me to keep battling my obsession with post payouts and it made me smile. I'd like to disqualify myself from winning your competition.
I'm glad you're back, take breaks if you need 'em we'll be here waiting! And that's awesome you got to see your gf! Does she not live near you? I'm also in a long distance relationship (my gf lives in Hawaii) so I like hearing how other people deal with distance!
Peace and chicken grease itchy.
OH! PS wanted to let you know I've been doin' my grip strengthening exercises and FUCK they're hard everytime! Lol good burn though!
PPS
I want to nominate @photo-trail as my rad dude. This account has introduced me to so many amazing photographers and has also shared my work a number of times which is an awesome feeling! He also puts other "photo news" on the blog, so he's featuring OTHER competitions and showcasing other people who are doing the same thing he is. Sifting through the vast world of steem photography isn't an easy task and this dude kills it. I plan to focus more of my time on steemit to connecting with world class photographers and @photo-trail really helps to make that possible. Keep doin' you @photo-trail!!!
PPPS GODDAMMIT I DIDN'T WISH YOU A HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HBD DUDE! Hope it was awesome :)
Chrissy, you can ramble up my alley anytime sister =) I love it, and look forward to getting our ramble on in Persona some day. The reward thing is so strange, it totally is a mindfuck. Maybe it's just one of those things that will always be there, and there will always be struggle and questioning :P As blackalicious says...."The struggle IS the blessing!".
Thanks for the happy birthday =) When's yours??? I'm a cancer fire tiger babeeeeee!!!!
hahahaa, I'm so happy you're still gripping it :P I don't do it every day, wish I did tho!!! You're going to have a real kungfu grip here!!
Sydney was only traveling for a month, we have spent up to about a year apart. It's definitely a challenge in all kinds of ways, I imagine it's a little different for everyone how that goes. How often do you get to see your boo??
Thanks for dropping in love, big hugs and hi5s, and tiger YELLS!
Oh for sure, beers and hikes and rambles! I feel that though, the process is the reward type of thing. But also dollars are nice.
I'm a Virgo! 9-11 is the bday! Me and my kung fu grip are looking forward to it!
I saw her last in May, we usually see each other about every 4-5 months but this time it'll be about 7 months. I won't see her again until December when I move out to Oahu. Yeah, definitely challenging but only the strong survive, right? Haha
Tiger yells and hi5s right back at ya!! Hope all is well in your part of the world!
I'm not even trying to go too deep into my relationship with steemit... but you've touched upon something else that's incredibly dear to me:
This is such an important truth, not only in terms of why we ourselves approach something, but really in any term.
With anything we encounter just as much as with anything we do, we should always inquire the "whys" about it!
Only if we never stop asking for the "why" in everything will we be able to outgrow ourselves...
gosh those were some bloated words!
oh yeah... my relation with steemit... i'm obsessed, too... "why?" you might ask ;)
Steemit is like a wonderful socio-economic experiment where social interaction and appreciation is at the center of the value-creation process. It's such a fundamentally amazing paradigm shift when translated to monetary systems in general...
mind blown
P.S.: oh... and happy b-day, too, of course
@itchykitten .. hey man, hope you've had a great week with the family and girlfriend! Hmmm now let me think about my relationship with Steemit. I'm loving my time here so far, I was kind of getting bored with some of the stale perceptions that seem to pervade other areas of social media and so Steemit has been a breath of fresh air. It's given me hope of a potential future where a technologically savy populace wrestle financial control away from the banking institutions and create their own self-sustaining monetary system .. I can dream can't I? lol.
I enjoy the exchange of ideas and concepts I've never thought about or considered, I'm also really grateful to have a platform to share my own thoughts and writing. Some of the derivative video shares and vacuous posts can be a little annoying, but I'm not here to judge so just move along quickly. The main struggle I'm having is finding a work, life, Steem writing, Steem community balance but it's all a learning curve so that's cool.
Some of the me me me aspects can be a little offputting as can the people that comment on your post as a way to simply ask you to upvote/follow them .. especially when they haven't bothered to read your own words, I had one within two seconds of posting the other day! I've heard of speed reading but that's got to be a world record! lol Mostly I'm enjoying the diversity of opinion and lifestyles, and chatting with dudes like yourself of course!!
Really I'm just here doing my own thing and sharing my thoughts and being humbled at the fact people have taken time out of their busy days to read my words. I have no expectations so I'm just going to continue following my own path, helping when I can, embracing my nonconformity and simply going with the flow and taking it as it comes. My mention goes to @tremendospercy A top man who gives far more than he takes and who understands the beautiful symbiotic nature of this platform. Great post (as always) by the way! :D
That's really kind of you to say so and I'm flattered for even getting mentioned.
You're a great writer along with many here who are underappreciated or yet undiscovered.
Thanks for the mention.
@tremendospercy No worries my friend, credit where it's due. Thank you for saying so, I'm just going to continue doing my own thing and being grateful for having a platform to write on.
Well my dear @itchykitten, since I am usually a frightening tidal wave of weird words & babbling sentences nonsense through my comments & replies on other people great posts. Like this one of yours. This time I'm afraid I'm gonna keep this comment rather short. To avoid soak you too much with said words and at the same time also fully answer a few of your questions on this post to enter into your contest to try snatch you off some good molah in my way. }:)
Inspired by your post to share my relationship with Steemit:
In first place, as for to doubts: Please, click here & read this post.
In second place and as for to challenges/gratitudes: Please, click here & read this other post.
That's it mate!! ¡There you have it! The shortest TLTR comment you are gonna get from me, with the hopes that eventually this reply will fall within your Lucky Hat Of Fortune. }:)
On other hand, ¡Upvoted & Resteemed! so my handful of followers also know about your generous challenge and great post.
Oh! and as for nominate ONE PERSON on Steemit who is focused on encouraging, uplifting, appreciating, and building up OTHERS over themselves... Without a doubt, gotta nominate to my good friend @tarazkp
Cheers!! :)
Steemit My saviour
Hmm.. Lately I have been a lost soul, a forgotten cause, Every day I pick up my bag go to work live the same old same old and come back home. Earlier I used to hangout every day in the evening with my friends but the symptoms of aging and responsibilities got them all. I didn't know when I started heavy drinking. I drank daily and I don't even like drinking, guess I had lost the will to do the things I can do, drinking seems way easier than any of that. I didn't like going online on FB thinking what if anybody tried to have a chat with me (I guess I started being intro world) the comfort and the pleasure of doing nothing at all had me by my neck.
Around a month back I came to know about Steemit and now a month later it has changed me, I smile a lot I talk to a whole lot of people and the best part is I get to learn about various places, cultures, art and food I never knew existed that too with an option with earning a little on the side, I have started to think more and drink less. I know talking to a community over internet is not same as talking to someone face to face, but for me it has the same effect.
There are few things which I personally love the most about Steemit.
(1) People here say 'Thank you' and 'sorry' an art which people in the real world have somehow forgotten.
(2) The community is so much helpful and never set a foot back when it comes to helping anyone,
(3) People might use aliases here but still they all speak what they really feel there is no alias to the thought process.
(4) There is no time zone boundations, Sometimes I don't want to sleep at night I want to talk, and here I can talk to people any time I want it is not like my FB community which sleeps at night.
(5) I do like the economy model of the community, which is unique in its ways.
It has been only a month but, I have gained so much, I have gained new friends, new gurus and acquired so much knowledge, I have lost few things too, I lost my habit of drinking, I lost being happy in my laziness and loneliness. I never considered myself as a dull person but at this point I am at the highest point of my spirit and with that huge spirit I am ready to do much more with and for the Steemit - My Savior.
For SP delegation I would like to nominate @sidwrites, as his content is very inspiring, motivating and is a kind of self-help book for Steemians, he is already helping a lot of Steemians with his content and will help many more with a delegated Steem power, He somehow has not written any content for past few days I don’t know why?
And at last but not the least thank you @itchykitten for this amazing contest, this surely inspires a whole lot of steemians like me to help the community more and more. Sorry for the long post :)