To play or get paid

IRL I am barely holding on, barely building, hoping and waiting holding on to my condo with my nails. Here, I am an investor, who can support authors and different communities.
@metzli

This was a comment I got overnight on my last post about my thoughts on powering up and liked the sentiment a lot and feel much the same. Being on Steem is much like living a double life of sorts where while I do not change in personality between the two, economically it is a different story.

I feel that in the community it is hard for many to differentiate between what is IRL and what is Steem resource availability with people making the assumption that someone with significant Steem Power must have similar resources in the real world, similar advantages, similar capabilities. That an account that has a lot of Steem means that the person behind the account is rich.

Steem rich, ain't rich.

At least not at 13 cents and perhaps it will never be more.

However, as I have said before, I am optimistic that eventually Steem will be valuable enough that it will be able to significantly change my personal financial position, but acting as if it has already changed does no one any favors. I am a pauper like many others, but I am changing my ways in the real world heavily so perhaps I may not always be. When it comes to Steem, I am relatively "well-off" and that gives me the possibility to replicate what I might do in the real word if in a similar position, although without the time resources I would like to invest.

If I was similarly as "rich" in the real world, it would be a pretty incredible position relatively since my current Steem holdings put me in the 333rd position of Steem holders, but at this point, what does it really matter? My entire account with almost 3 years of intense work and a lot of external inputs of cash amounts to 7800 dollars worth, definitely no princely sum, definitely not rich.

But on Steem I get to do what the comment said, Support authors and communities as well as invest into the future development of Steem itself, something I consider a worthy cause and effective use of my personal resources. If things go well, not only will those who have supported me and myself will do well, everyone I have supported will do well also and perhaps, many will change their personal financial position for the better. No promises though.

I have always been annoyed by people who like to spend their time complaining about the wealth of others on Steem without the consideration of what they do off Steem to enable it. It annoys me when people complain about their own position and the reasons they have to power down, or the reasons why they can't get a job, or the reasons they can't put in more effort or whatever and still have the audacity to assume that those who have a fair amount of Steem have so with no personal cost, no effort, no work and no compromises in order to be able to keep investing themselves in.

Lots of reasons, very little understanding.

As said, Steem is my point of entertainment, my hobby, my therapist, my source of information, my skill development and my hope for a better financial future. I see the bundling of these things as part of my investment into that future and it comes with risks. While people game, watch Youtube, read novels and spend their disposable income on enjoying their life the best they can, I take the entrepreneur's view of investments made now are sowing the seeds for tomorrow.

What annoys me the most on Steem is when people complain about a lack of support, but they aren't even willing to work at supporting themselves. Supporting yourself isn't a phenomena unique to Steem, if one is continually reliant on handouts from parents and governments in order to survive, if a student is unwilling to get a part-time working a crappy job for a little extra income, if one spends the majority of their time being entertained without learning how to support themselves, why would anyone invest in them?

The Steem community is not your parent, nor is it your government.

Your sad story and the reasons why you can't may get some sympathy votes to begin with, but your depression, your hard life, your challenges get old and lose attention, which signals death in an attention economy. At some point, one has to face those challenges alone and find ways to overcome them. Alone.

I am not saying that their is no support in the community, but if the only support that ever makes you feel better about yourself is the votes you get on your posts or he Steem sent to your wallet, then you have much larger issues at hand. Perhaps in that case, you should spend less time on Steem, and more time working on yourself.

Steem is not your savior, but it does offer the potential to help you save yourself, to own your resources and aspects of your life. Rather than holding on with nails, Steem could help one live comfortably, but in order to do so, one must own Steem without expecting to always earn Steem. In order to do this for most people, it requires getting your real-life shit sorted out without having to rely on Steem to do so.

I have said for many "Steem years" (Steem years are shorter but feel much, much longer than normal years), that for the vast majority of people, Steem is not ready to live off and those who try will have to live a life of various compromises economically and socially. I have also mentioned that those who rely on Steem for income put themselves in a very precarious situation which is especially strange considering Steem itself is only a little over 3 years old and was not an available revenue Steem or even known to most until the bullrun of 2017/88 that sent prices of for a couple of weeks. only.

Steem is not ready to be your economic or even social crutch and the volatility of both within the community probably makes it unsuitable for people who rely on it to "fix" them, as a support to make them whole. If one is heavily depressed, perhaps Steem isn't the place to look for support, if one is emotionally volatile, perhaps Steem isn't a suitable environment, if one is economically challenged, perhaps Steem isn't the place to spend time trying to earn for a living.

Steem doesn't turn away anybody at the door, but this doesn't mean that Steem is fit or even healthy for everyone to take part in at this stage of the lifecycle. If someone can't enjoy their time here in the FUD and !Drama, the arguments, the downvotes, the conversations about governance, the scam, the spam and all of the negative aspects, one is unlikey to be able to spend time with all of the positive.

Most people in this world are not entrepreneurs yet Steem is a place of building ownership, many people online are not emotionally balanced yet Steem requires some level of emotional maturity, the majority of folk are instant gratifiers and live in debt, yet Steem investment requires patience.

How does one expect to do well on Steem if one doesn't even know what is required to do so?

I think that @metzli demonstrates the mindset required to survive Steem long-term and that is, to recognize that at this point, it isn't about you. If you can't support others in a way that matters to them, it is unlikely that they will spend their time supporting you. This might mean that what you need to do is spend some time reflecting on what you do and how you do it, and see if it is suitable to get you to where you want to be.

Most people who have failed to get the outcomes they wanted on Steem, wasn't because they couldn't, it is that they didn't. A lot of what is needed to be successful on Steem is the understanding that real life and Steem life and Steem life are not two different lives - one always affects the other.

Some people see Steem as their playground, some see it as their paycheck. The difference is that one side will always be looking to play more, the other will be looking to retire.

To play or get paid.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]