2017 - THIS WAS A CRAZY YEAR HERE ON STEEMIT!

What a great year to be a steemian!

For Hive account@papa-pepper, my time on steemit began back in July of 2016. This means that 2017 will be the first entire calendar year that I've been on steemit. Trust me, coming into 2017 is a lot different than heading out of it, and what a year it has been!

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE CRYPTO

At the start of 2017, the steemians had just been through a pretty rough spell. The value of STEEM had plummeted at the end of 2016 all the way down to 8 cents each! It was a rough time for a lot of steemians and morale was low. Many of the "better authors" had concluded that it wasn't worth their time to post on steemit and departed in search of greener pastures with more $$GREEN$$ to go around.

This set the stage for some very interesting things heading into 2017...

THE RISE OF PAPA-PEPPER?

The video above was uploaded in early January of 2017, almost a year ago now. It is one small sampling of the steemit-inspired creativity that I was able to be a part of this year. A big thanks to Hive account@anarchrysalis for helping out with the call!

This was a weird one for me, especially since there was no real way to state the fact without sounding like I was bragging. Remember how I mentioned all of those "better authors" leaving steemit due to the drop in value of STEEM? Yeah, someone in their absence I actually managed to become the # 1 trending author on steemit a few times this year. Now that was strange. Ultimately, it was just a huge blessing that we embraced and has lead to lasting effects that we are still grateful for. Don't worry, eventually the value increased and they came back, LOL!

@DAN DEPARTS

Just a few months into 2017, Hive account@dantheman aka Hive account@dan resigned from steemit.inc to pursue other things in his life. There was once again a lot of concern and a loss of morale, so I entered the steemit Open Mic Contest sponsored by Hive account@pfunk and Hive account@luzcypher with my entry above titled "steemit > Hive account@dan." Ultimately, I was just trying to put things into perspective for others and encourage the community. Actually, I took 3rd place that week too!

BOOM - $10K JUST LIKE THAT?

Then came the rise in value, and all of that cheap STEEM that I earned when the "better authors" departed and people stopped posting suddenly became worth a lot more. Over the period of just a few days I watched as my account hit over $10,000 USD in value. This was a game changer in perspective.

Over the following months a lot of USD worth of STEEM and SBD was enjoyed by many, and the community rejoiced as they began to see a more significant return on their investment.

THE POWER OF THE STEEMIT COMMUNITY

Then, one of our own had a serious need. @Darthnava got some discouraging MRI results and humbly requested that the community help him if they were able. The post itself paid out at $17,502.81 total, and a pile of donations also rushed in. I think that it was the first time many of us fully realized the power of this community. It was an amazing situation to be a part of.

Yes, among many others I also made a donation, which got many people talking about how "great" Hive account@papa-pepper was. I made the video above to set the record straight and testify to my lack of greatness.

THE 5TH LITTLE-PEPPER!

Our fifth child was also born around that time, "Buddy-Pepper." It was another amazing change in our lives, and a special time for us as we shared it with our amazing new steemit friends all around the world. We really appreciated all of the love and support that the steemians sent us at that time! Thanks!

CONTESTS!

2017 was a very interesting year for Hive account@papa-pepper in contests too. First, I ran several seasons of the STEEM-Pocalypse Survival Game Contest to the point that I needed the help of Hive account@noveatebatman just to try to keep it all sorted out. I still plan on running another season of that, I've just got a few things to take care of first. While STEEM-Pocalypse basically started its own subculture, I decided to try something different with the Daily Selfie Challenge, which also not only became huge, it paid out huge too, as we split up over $10K in SBD between the 10 remaining players. I can't wait to see what happens in the land of contests in 2018!

TEAMING UP!

This was a wonderful year for teaming up with other steemians too. Just check out the video above that Hive account@beanz edited to see what I mean. There is no way that I could have pulled off a video like that on my own. I can't even thank all of the great steemians who have partnered with me, or allowed me to contribute to what you've been up to. From videos to audiobooks to interviews to artwork and more, it's been a lot of fun. This one that Hive account@andrarchy made was probably one of my favorites.

What a fun bunch of people you steemians are to hang out with and meet up with too, as I was blessed enough to meet a lot of you!

CONTENT CREATION

Obviously, I like to have a little fun too, but this year really marked a transition for me into becoming a content creator on a much different level as well.

It is fun to "find the post" in the various situations in life and enjoy sharing the journey as we live our lives. It also came with some good warnings on the importance of being safe!

HOMESTEADING COMMUNITY

While their may have been a lot of factors, the homesteading community absolutely blew up here on steemit. I actually know a lot more homesteaders in my area just because of steemit, and it is such a blessing to be able to share advice and knowledge, while encouraging one another in our lives. This was probably one of the biggest blessings for us.

RADIO TOO?

Besides the "regular interviews" for posts on steemit, I've had the privilege of being interviewed on the radio too, thanks to Hive account@xtrodinarypilot! I appreciated getting to know his family this year, being able to crash at his house, and having a "home away from home" in Houston. While it may not seem like a big deal, travelling to one of the largest cities in the US for radio interview was definitely different for me. It's not how I normally spend my day.

CLOSER

Anyway, I just wanted to recap some of my year for you. For a few, you probably got to catch up on some things you missed. For others, it most likely brought back some memories. Either way, thanks for letting me share it. I look forward to 2018 and I'll be glad to see you there! STEEM ON!

Until next time…

Don’t waste your time online, invest it with steemit.com

GIF provided by Hive account@orelmely