I have been chasing the introduceyourself high.

But it wasn't as good as my second hit.

The power of addiction is strong.

God is stronger.

@kakradetome wrote this post: "Steemit is really great and addictive but let's not forget the other things in our lives".

This was my first warning.

Then came "This mad addiction" from @jlwkolb .

The message was clear and I ignored it.

I have struggled with addictive behavior in the past.

I am no stranger to it.

But I know I don't have to live this way.

@sean-king had this helpful post "Why you'd be much happier if you viewed steemit as a lottery".

This is a good mindset given the abundant frustrated minnow posts about memes making big money, the obsession with marine biology expressed in "Whale Catching", or simple jealousy from all the money for mammary glands (just about any trending article).

Steemit.com is a special place, but it is also just the internet.

I have been a blogger for a while now and have self-published a book, so I am no stranger to writing.

However, writing is not very profitable without good marketing.

I have a day job and quickly learned selling books for a liviing is not for me. This is where the opportunity afforded by steemit became attractive.

Finally a way to earn money for my passion and efforts.

But then the flood of users, spam, click-bait, and attention seeking began.

And by this time I was hooked.

I have run my phone battery to zero for the past few days as I obsessively follow steemit.com.

Hoping to hit it big.

I have realized I have too much hope in this unfounded future investment payout and have given it undue amounts of my time.

Therefore, I am going to take a break from it while on vacation, but will be back in a (hopefully) more controlled way when I return.

I plan on continuing "my #persuasion series", exclusively on steemit, over the next couple months, in a more measured fashion.

I think I may create a vacation post, but not sure yet.

Otherwise I want to keep blogging here, but I can't do it the way I have been until now.

This compulsion is not sustainable.

But I know what to do, I've been through this before.

It is hard when the "first one is free".

But I don't have to spiral.

@strangerarray