Hello Steemit and fellow Steemians.
This will be a fairly personal post. I hope you don't mind.
Having taken a two month hiatus from Steemit, I've decided that now is as good a time as any to jump back in and get involved.
First, let me explain why I needed a break, what happened to make me reconsider, and what I have planned next.
Why did I join Steemit in the first place?
Joining Steemit in April 2018, I was curious to see what a crypto-currency-based social media platform was like.
I was a busy 27 year-old living in London and working in a full-time job, but I'd always been interested in blogging, writing, creating videos and generally creating things.
As a kid I loved LEGO, and still do, and it's that 'blank slate' and 'open world' feel to it that translated nicely into the blogging world, particularly on a relatively new platform like Steemit.
Finally, if I could be creative and monetise my interest while honing skills such as writing and video editing, all the while getting to know interesting people from the internet, I figured it could be great fun.
Life can be pretty awesome. Perspective plays a big part, and I haven't necessary been helping myself in this department.
Where it went wrong
Steemit started out as so much fun.
Getting to understand the way it worked, the Steem Wallet, SteemPower, reading other blogs and discovering servers like Steemit Travellers on Discord... I felt like Alice in Wonderland when she'd fallen down the rabbit hole and discovered a new, surreal, daunting and altogether exciting new world.
Living with my girlfriend, doing well at work (in which I take great pride and enjoy), and blogging, I had high hopes. I even had a fancy logo made up!
Soon however, the pressure I put on myself to try and juggle relationships with friends and family, colleagues, a social life, interests outside of work and blogging started to take its toll.
I have always loved travelling and felt that Steemit could be a great platform to help reach and get to know fellow travel enthusiasts, away from an obsession over likes and follower-count. I felt a lack of energy and inspiration, however, lacking ideas on what to post, and perhaps most of all a self-doubt that anyone would want to read my posts.
In the past, I've had plenty of ideas of projects to try or create, but an equally significant, enduring nervousness to pursue them to the end. Projects of all sorts lay half-complete, a remnant of a once-burning desire to complete something. In many ways I've been scared that by not being perfect from the off, it wasn't something worth pursuing. This has been true of my travel videos (I've made about half a dozen, but have footage for probably 6 times that), and my website (a 2/3 complete WordPress site that I'm really proud of but despite my best efforts not something I can seem to get work how I initially intended).
Sure, part of me had hoped to start making money on Steemit from the off, and I had grand plans for how I'd run a Steemit page, an Instagram, a video blog, and a website. I wrote a few articles, became really excited that some of them made more than a dollar, and wanted to keep doing so.
Yet in time I decided that pouring hours and hours and hours of time each night (at the expense of time with my girlfriend, friends, family and colleagues) to be rewarded with $0.07 to show for it just simply wasn't worth it.
Previous posts looked a little like this, which at the time I found disheartening
So, onto the postives...
What's Changed?
Looking back, I placed too much emphasis on the Steemit $ value (the now perceived value I was receiving) than I did on the experience and journey of creating (the original value I set out to achieve).
When I look at someone like Nas Daily, who's on a quest to travel around the world making a video every single day for 1,000 days, I admite how dedicated and consistent he is. I'm sure he's had the same level of self-doubt I have, but in the time that I've been held back by mine, he's made another 60+ videos. He's made SIXTY videos, in the time I took off Steemit.
Admittedly he has a team to help him now his page has become so successful, but I can't help but admire his commitment to his original idea. Staying true to himself and to his passion has paid off, both financially and figuratively, showing him the world in ways I've only been able to dream of.
The below video really resonated with me, and is encouraging me to get up and go: commit to my earlier Steemit dreams of creating content, having fun as I do so and seeing where it takes me. But then again, I'm now ok with the idea that it may take me absolutely nowhere, as that’s fine too.
What are my ambitions for Steemit?
Ideally, I’d like to post around 3 times a week about travel content of all shapes and sizes: personal experiences, travel tips, photos, videos, suggestions and more. In a world of travel bloggers with millions of followers and as many filters on their photos, I’m hoping goodwithtravels will be an honest look at what it means to explore the world on a hard-earnt budget in the 21st century.
I'm moving away from worrying about follower count, dollar value of posts or trying to create the 'perfect' content. Sure, if a post really resonates with readers and earns 1, 5, 10, or even 50 dollars and I can buy myself a few beers, that's pretty cool, but that’s no longer the primary measure of success for me here on Steemit.
While I'm grateful for any upvotes and likes and the knowledge that my content might be found interesting to readers, my longer-term plan is to continue to create content (hopefully good content), with a view to donating 50% of Steem dollars earnt, helping those in the world that need support more than I do. It's partly why (though not something I've told anyone before now) I called this channel goodwithtravels - a source of inspiration to those wanting to see and explore the world, but also do good at the same time.
I haven't quite worked out what my plan is, what I'll be posting, what causes I'd like to help or indeed what the mechanics of how I'll make it happen, but it's very much on my agenda for the tail end of 2018 and start of 2019. This is something I really do hope to complete.
2019 also has what I hope to be an INCREDIBLE trip planned. More on that another day.
Thanks for reading. Have you ever hit any road-blocks with your blogging and creative ideas?
Do you have any tips or suggestions to help fellow Steemians maintain creative momentum?
I'd love to hear your stories; don't forget to follow 
Steemit: @goodwithtravels
Instagram: @goodwithtravels
Facebook: @goodwithtravels