My friend is telling me about this new social media platform. It has something to do with the 'steam' word in it. I don’t have a clue what it is, but it reminded me of Siomai, a chinese food that is being steam to cook.

He said “, read about it, it’s like facebook but when you post you can get paid”.

My reaction was..

Okay, I’m sold.

“What is the name again?” I ask.

“Steam it” he said.

So I went to google and search for

And the result appeared like this

KIDDING!

This is the actual result

But from the look at it, feels like I am in the wrong result.

After a lot of searches, google thought I was too stupid and I needed help.

So it suggested Steemit

and then I clicked.

There it is.

So dumb! It's been my fault all along 😂 Ohhhh steam it 🤣

Like what a skeptic people would do, I read and read and read until I felt ready.

Until I stumble upon a free course of Hive account@robcubbon about the topic. So I signed up, and watched the whole thing in an hour.

After that, I am ready to start with steemit. So I register…

Finally, I should be able to start right. Right?!

“NOOOO!”

You need to get an approval first.

Oh snap!

I waited… and waited.. Then there’s none.

When I woke up, there it is!

And my friend got his approval too!

Then he said “Ohhh, there is a Steemit Event here in Chiang Mai later, wanna come?”

"Ahhhh… yes?" I answered with hesitancy.

So James and I went to Cube 7, the meeting place for the event. The whole Steemit thing feels like out of this World to me. I haven’t even sign in to check the platform. And here we are, talking with experts in the field.

It’s been a whole night of questions and answers, we listened as we can’t share anything.

Shout out to everyone I met that night Hive account@boomshikha Hive account@robcubbon Hive account@ashe-oro Hive account@quantummonks Hive account@romanlillie Hive account@livenowandwow Hive account@kelliemcrae

We went home decided that we will start the next day…

And then the morning came,we stare at the blank page..

Then

Still nothing.

Today, I got a notification from our Chiang Mai Steemit Facebook Group about the second meet up.

How can I show up to them if I didn't take action of what was discussed the last time?

So yeah, this is kind of a deadline, and that's why I am writing this.

Finally, the real introduction

Hi Steemians (not Steamians 😂)

My name is Mary
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I am a registered nurse from the Philippines.

After college, I have everything figured out.

I will work as a nurse in the hospital to gain experience, and then I can work abroad to make more money.

But things didn’t turn out as easy as I thought.

Nurses are oversupply that there is nothing left but to volunteer for 6 months without any compensation.

The supposed to be “dream job” that turned into a charity, drained the life out of me.

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It was so exhausting, the feeling of dragging yourself to wake up and go to work. I hated how I have to work 12 hours a day, getting scolded by patients, and not being able to sit for the whole day.

This is not the life I wanted for myself.

Not being a nurse in general, but working too much and won’t even have time to do just the normal things like eating on time, or seeing my family.

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That’s when it hit me. I am stuck.

I don’t know what to do.

This leaves me lost, the feeling of no direction, it’s as if I am just walking with nowhere to go.

I am burned out.

Even worst is, I am not getting any salary.

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Got a job as a private nurse. One patient after the other.

I suddenly have 3 families who treated me as their own. I am getting paid well, and life is okay again.

After working hard continuously, I decided to take a vacation with my sister in Boracay, the most famous beach in the Philippines.

I stayed in a hostel. And there, I met young people whose living their life. By that, I mean they are doing what they want to do. They all faced their laptop in the morning, and by night, they all party.

I exchange conversation with few of them, and they said they work online. So they could be anywhere as long as they have internet. They own businesses too. They have flexible time, and they could travel when they want. Thailand last week, and then Philippines, and then some other parts of Southeast Asia next month.

This is my dream. To travel the World and have freedom.

It lit a fire inside me.

I want to live a life like that.

But then...

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I needed to go back to my job.

But, that idea never left out of my mind.

Everyday, I aspire to be like them. I've read books and took courses about anything that could level up my skills, and took action on them.

And so I tried many things.. Buying and selling of stuff, selling things on ebay, graphic design, video making, publishing a book, making an app, writing… and anything I can think of to be able to make a living with the thing they called the internet.

Those trials and errors deserved posts of their own, so I won't include them here.

Fast forward to Today, and I am living the same lifestyle...sort of.

I am now staying in Chiang Mai Thailand. And I get to Wake up with this view, everyday

In just a year, I’ve been to 8 countries including some of the most expenses places like

Batanes Philippines

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Japan

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Dubai

Hong Kong

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With that, I would be sharing here on Steemit my travel stories, as well as guides and tips.

And of course, I will be talking about my beloved Philippines.

There are so many things I want to talk about especially the people, and the culture. There are so many issues going mainstream when they talk about my country. But more than anything else, I am proud of the scenery the Philippines could offer (let's not talk about how slow the internet connection is 😉 ).

We also have a great number of Filipino Steemians whom I look up to like Hive account@joanaltres Hive account@juvyjabian Hive account@englishtchrivy Hive account@albertvhons Hive account@pinaynomad Hive account@allmonitors Hive account@bearone Hive account@awesomenyl Hive account@asbonclz Hive account@cjclaro