What Do You Do When You No Longer Feel a Connection with Your Old Tribe?
Over the last decade my understanding of life has made a dramatic shift. This has caused me to have a great sense of loneliness at times. I could be in a room full of people but still seem to be all alone.
The conversations were usually very shallow, self-centered, narcissistic in nature and about subjects that frankly appealed very little to me. My brain was not being stimulated. So I would retreat into my own little world and dream of living abroad, entrepreneurship and simple living.
It seemed whenever I would bring up conversations about what I cared about people would call me a wishful thinker, a dreamer or sometimes a conspiracy theorist. The only thing people wanted to hear about were my stories while in the US Navy or psych unit stories. I spent almost six years working on psychiatric units.
The other thing that always got under my skin was how everyone wanted to know how my Brother was doing. He was a Navy Cryptographer and now a big wig in the FBI Cyber division. Conversations tend to go like this, "Randy long time no see, how is your Brother?"
You see I was always the outsider looking in. I had never found my watering hole! Then something amazing happened in my life.
The Move to Panama.
In 2010 I made the decision to expatriate to Panama. My family and friends must have thought I was crazy. For one I had very little money to make the move and two I barely knew anyone in Panama.
Once I hit the streets of Panama I began networking and meeting like-minded expats from all over the world. The first community I tried out was the military Veterans community but I found them to be a little negative. They were also obviously a little to attached to the tit of Momma Gov.
By this time I had already taken the red pill and was a happy Libertarian. I had been a Dr. Paul fan since 2006. During that time frame I read Peter Schiff's book, "Crash Proof" and went on a Youtube binge. It was an awakening and I would never be the same again.
I met so many expats during my first few years in Panama but frankly most were miserable people. I have to admit that I decided to retreat into the internet. My connection to the outside world was my wife Anabell. If it was not for her I would probably spend 16 hours a day on the web.
The Role of Social Media in My Journey for a New Watering Hole.
Then something miraculous happened, my original partners in Panama decided that they no longer wanted to keep me around. This lit a fire under my ass and I began to network online in spectacular fashion.
My first great connection outside of Panama was Peter Spina of GoldSeek. I was his social media manager for Goldseek, SilverSeek and Goldseek Mint. I had a total blast and got to know many people in the Gold and Silver community that I considered heroes.
Then in 2015 all hell breaks loose. The precious metals community is a ghost ship and all revenue dries up, so Peter has to let me go. We already had plenty of other clients by this time but losing Peter as a client hurt both financially and because it was a community that I felt attached to.
The Crypto Rebirth.
In June of last year I was asked to join a crypto mining community called Bitclub. Even though network marketing has never been my thing this was an opportunity I felt was worthwhile. So began my second entry into the world of Crypto and Bitcoin.
A few months later I happened to meet Ira Miller the co-founder of Coinapult a Panama based Bitcoin wallet. He asked me if I wanted to be a mentor for The Founders Institute Panama, a startup incubator. I said yes and an amazing relationship has developed ever since. We now have multiple projects we are working on together which are all blockchain related.
Our First Graduating Class of The Founders Institute Panama August 2016.
The AnCap Community
Then in March I had a the opportunity to meet up with Jeff Berwick of The Dollar Vigilante and Luke Rudkowski of We Are Change. These two guys were on their way home from Venezuela. Jeff asked if anyone in Panama wanted to hang out during their 12 hour layover. Ana and I were around the corner at a clients office so we jumped at the chance.
We had a great meeting with Jeff and Luke. I had already taken the blue pill but after that meeting I think my wife did also! I do believe we were the first to hear about their hair raising trip to Venezuela. Jeff and I came to an agreement and we have been helping do his social media ever since.
Luke, Anabell and Jeff
FreedomFest 2016 Las Vegas
In July I went to FreedomFest in Las Vegas on last seconds notice for a client. This was probably the best two days of networking I ever did in my life. It was also the first time I entered the USA since since June 2012, when I sold my house in NY.
I met so many great people during these few days. I think I connected with over 20 fellow Anarchists and some Libertarians. When I came home my Fascistbook feed was transformed into a liberty loving post fest. Between my Anarchist friends and Crypto friends I barely saw any of the typical crap people see in their Fascistbook feeds.
Fast Forward to August 2016.
Jeff Berwick joins Steemit and I do also. My life has filled with joy as I produce content for the Steemit platform. The amount of Anarchist, Crypto lovers and free thinkers on the platform has blown my mind. I have been producing content since 2011 but never received a dime directly. So the incentive to share my ideas and knowledge while getting paid a little definitely appealed to me.
Many of the people I am engaging with on Steemit I have known about, shared their content but never had the opportunity to have conversations with them. Now it seems like I am having conversations with pioneers in the Crypto and Anarchist community daily.
I Found My Watering Hole.
After all of these years I have finally found a place where my tribe congregates. Steemit has become the local watering hole for the minds that I feel a connection to.
This platform has done something that no other platform I have worked with has done before. It has brought a bunch of people together who would otherwise be off working on their individual projects.
If Steemit was to shut down tomorrow I am sure that the relationships I am forming on this platform will continue to there. This is what social media is supposed to be about!
