It has been a long time coming - almost five years in fact, but this is going to be my 50,000th post on the Hive Blockchain! This of course isn't top level posts, it is posts and comments combined, but still it is a bit of an achievement.
I used to have in my byline "prolific writer" but now it just says continual writer, as at least for me, it is like a continuous flow of thoughts that connect my daily life with the blockchain. While I do not add every detail of my life here, my life affects every piece I write and there is no one else on earth that can write like me. It is not a conceited thing to say, it is true, because in order to write like me, a person would have to have me experience and since I am the only one on earth who lives my life, that is literally impossible.
For those who know me (and many do), they also know that I am pretty much the same in real life as I appear on the blockchain, although I haven't updated my profile picture for a while, so I might be a little heavier and, a little beardier. However, one of the things that I can't do in my content is make shit up, because I write so much that if I were to do so, there would be no way for me to keep track of all the lies. And yes, there are people on here who talk a lot of bullshit - and the chain remembers it all.
The other reason I put myself out there to be on here is, I am increasingly aware that there is a chance that I will not see my daughter grow into her adulthood and I want her to have something of me that is me, rather than have to "know me" through the words of other people. All of these posts on Hive will be a gateway for her to see her life through my eyes, as well as get an understanding of my thought processes through different stages of my life and our life together. I value this opportunity a lot and I suspect that many people who lose their parents early, would have loved to have something like this to help them understand their parents and themselves better.
4813 top level posts have been committed by me to the chain, meaning that I am about 1:11 in regards to adding comments and tens of millions of words between the two. Early on, I didn't understand how important comments were to building relationships, but I soon learned and have spent a lot of time commenting, which can often be more than I have spent writing top level posts - which is saying something.
The people who don't answer their comments annoy me, especially when they are getting well rewarded. It is not just that they are taking those who take the time to engage for granted, but they are also taking the voters for granted too, as they expect the content to add value and a huge part of that is in building the relationships that attach people to this blockchain. The value of engagement is enormous.
A lot of people have a different experience to me here and they put it down to the difference in "reward", but that is only part of the story. For me, one of the reasons that I am so Hive positive is that I am attached to the blockchain with far more than my HIVE POWER, as I have relationships and friends here I value highly, even if I don't always get to speak to everyone often. And like I said above, I have myself here too, as I am in these posts, it is not some cut and paste fluff, or random school report kind of task - this is me, my life, my experience, skills and al of my emotional states.
This shit is personal.
So, while I have been relatively prolific on Hive as a poster in posts and comments, what also has to be considered is the value of the relationships built and the connections made. I have generated 69104 replies on my posts too, which is 15th highest on the platform and much higher, if the automated "comment war" ones are taken out of the top spots, as well as the ones who have hundreds of ! calls on them. So, if I were to remove the spam and the automated comments. I have answered most of the replies I have ever got on my posts, which is a pretty decent effort considering.
I have considered it in thought experiments, but despite blogging daily, I don't consider myself a blogger, let alone a full-time blogger - as I have a couple other career jobs to keep me busy in the work regard. However, if there was to be a bit of a spike in the markets, technically I would have earned more from blogging than I have from my jobs. I say technically because HIVE POWER isn't cash, no matter what it is actually worth.
That is not too bad for a hobby though!!
But of course, I had it easy and it is impossible for other people to do. I have been told it is impossible for four years and before I was even a dolphin level on the platform. Funny isn't it? All of those people who believed it was impossible so didn't try, only to find out that indeed it is possible and their beliefs were wrong. But of course, they will never admit that, they will justify their position in some other way, make some other excuse.
Have you noticed that pretty much all the successful people on earth were told that what they ended up being successful at, was impossible for them? Business people and athletes and seemingly, Hive bloggers. Don't get me wrong here either - the account value isn't the success, the 50,000 posts are.
If the majority of you knew what my life looked like, you probably wouldn't be jealous and the people here who do, definitely aren't jealous of me. They know where I started and what it has taken to get to this point today. But, that is part of the experience of life, overcoming adversity to achieve the "impossible".
I will end with a quote on this and one I think about often in regards to all of the times I have heard what is impossible to accomplish in this world.
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ― Muhammad Ali
People misunderstand this quote, they think it is about believing in yourself, but it isn't. It is literal, Impossible is nothing. If something is impossible, it does not, cannot and will not ever exist. Things may be impossible right now, but that doesn't mean they won't be possible tomorrow, or a hundred years from now. Everything that we use daily, from this blockchain and the cars we drive, to the internet and the medicine we have available were impossible until they were made possible.
We make our world, literally. And we have the power to change everything.
One thought, one word, one action at a time.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]