I've always had a sort of formal respect for money, not veneration, because I primarily believe that money serves to support our initiatives or needs. But I've certainly always held it in high regard, even when things were going much better for me than they have in recent years, although fortunately things are slowly but steadily changing for me...
In 2016, I lost my lifelong job—I'd been a sporting goods salesman for about thirty years. Then, on the verge of turning 50, I had to resign from a job I couldn't continue working with, and that's when my problems began...
I was completely unemployed for a little over a year, with no state protection because I'd always worked in the private sector as a self-employed professional. So, without earning a penny, I worked online, at least I wasn't sitting idle. After a less than satisfying experience in the restaurant industry, a few years ago I started cleaning stairs and apartments, especially apartment building stairs. This year I managed to secure another four stairs to clean, which are quite significant in terms of my billing. This has given me some peace of mind. I'm achieving my current life's main goal: meeting basic expenses and, hopefully, saving even just 50 euros a month for a future, a retirement that promises to be quite challenging for me.
To summarize, my current income is almost exclusively used to cover basic expenses and little else that isn't strictly essential. In addition to financial problems, which are fortunately being resolved thanks to the increase in work and subsequent income this year, I've always had a family situation that has been further strained. I've been in a relationship that's now at its end for a long, long time, but I can't, due to a specific moral obligation of mine, leave my current partner. I need to ensure her some minimal financial security. I have some projects in mind for her, which she's working on anyway, and upon achieving them, I'll feel more free to fully decide my future. So, at the moment, what use is the income I generate, the physical effort I'm putting in day after day to earn a living, to give me a new life, to allow me to smile at life again, a circumstance that hasn't been a given for far too long...
I hope I don't have to resort to heavy power-downs on Hive to get the financial resources to fund my projects. I still have a few months before things reach a crucial point. I'm also opening up to other communities, like 