Money, Money, Money on Steemit

Recently I have been thinking a lot about money. Mainly because STEEM has had such an increase lately, which has increased my account value substantially. This made me think whether I am posting on Steemit for the sake of money, or just sharing ideas and thoughts on topics I enjoy. Before Steemit I would never post like I started doing here, and that's why I am so split. So Steemit and the STEEM blockchain made me do it? I made myself do it, but the motivation was 100 % the money rewards. No doubt. That for me seems like such a lame, empty, soulless motivation. Topics that I before loved to discuss and talk about without earning a single cent, is now being rewarded, which has changed me. To be driven by money drains your soul unless you do something you absolutely love. But if you do something you absolutely love, you are not driven by money. Money is secondary. That's the main problem. Money has become primary for me. That disgusts me in some way. I try to only write about stuff that interests me, but as I never would write as much as I do now, I feel like I am losing my self-respect. I imagine that artists encounter the same problem. Not that I see myself as an artist, but suddenly start earning money on what you love to do, must be weird.

Many times have I felt the need to write another post. To earn that extra STEEM. I have observed this for quite some time now. I have observed it, and come to realize that most of it is driven by greed. More, more and more. Just wanting more. But I haven't seen an increase in my levels of happiness. Still, my mind tells me that if I get to x amount of STEEM I can relax, and I will be happier. Well, that's a lie. I have changed the way I lived, and the things I do, because I could earn money from it. I never wrote blogs. Never. I never posted youtube clips. Never. Suddenly I do. Why? Because of money. I am doing these things because of money. Money, money, money, give me money, but eventually, the house of cards will fall. Only being motivated by money, is awful. It drains your soul. We need to be motivated by something else. Something a lot more meaningful. Unless, we might end up wearing a Gucci suit, a Rolex watch, drinking expensive whiskey, and popping antidepressants in the morning. We all have that monster within us. Some of us better to control it than others. The monster that feeds on materialistic, and soulless meals. The monster is what we identify with if we obey it. It tells us to buy this and buy that, and that when we have it, we will finally be happy or free. It's all illusions. Watch it.

This could easily be understood as a rant about how steemit is not changing the world for the better. It's not about that. It's about my own experience, and that I think we have to think twice before using it. Steemit is, for god sake, making it possible to earn enough to get along while still writing about stuff we enjoy, instead of washing dishes at the local kebab shop. That's a huge opportunity and a privilege. Maybe we should look at hobbies that we were already doing before steemit and monetize those, instead of starting to write, vlog, etc, just because steemit is now here. If you have to be honest you probably started doing so because you could earn money, right? I did.

This is not a goodbye, but I will write a lot fewer posts than I have done so far. If I will post, it would be about stuff that I would have done anyway. I will do my best to not be motivated and driven by money. I will at least try to. By doing so, I am sure I will enjoy Steemit a lot more.

Were you blogging, vlogging etc before Steemit, or was it something you started doing when you found Steemit? What is your experience with what I wrote, can you relate to it, or is it pure BS?

Btw: I felt like writing this and get it off my shoulder, and it didn't at all feel like a drag for me. Ironically it didn't decline payouts, but I will use most of my voting power on the comments to this post. As long as you're not commenting just for the sake of getting some extra money ;)