Today is my 8th birthday on HIVE (6 on HIVE and 2 on old chain) and it is quite remarkable how quickly time flies. When I stumbled upon HIVE I had no idea this would turn into what it has become and HIVE is very much part of my daily routine. HIVE becomes a way of life and is a wonderful type of hobby interacting with so many other people around the world.
When I signed up I was account number 828 518 and since then HIVE has 2 609 884 accounts so the numbers have risen by more than 3 times over the last 8 years. I was early and did not even realise how early because many others around me had already been on the chain for 12 months. I do not even want to think about how many hours my account represents and even if it was just 3 hours per day that would equate to 1 year and I know it is more than that which is very scary to go down that road.
The difference between myself and many other accounts is when I joined I started from 0 or actually more precisely -15 HIVE because this was the coins lent to myself which I had to pay back so I could at least leave some comments. This is the resource credits one needs and why having stake allows you to do things on the blockchain.
When I started out I did not like being at the bottom of the ladder and thought the best way to catch those who started 12 months before myself was to be more active. I did not have the funds at the time to invest in HIVE mainly to being hacked on Binance. How could i justify to my family that I was going to invest in crypto when the first investment lasted a matter of weeks before it was stolen. You learn very quickly and not all lessons are pleasant ones.
I still cannot believe how much time I dedicated to HIVE when starting out and it was in the region of 8 hours every day for a solid 12 months. Luckily this was doable as the work commitments had me on site for days on end with little to no sleep and HIVE was a helpful distraction.
I was lucky enough to bump into 
HIVE became a personal challenge and why I kind of gamified the growth because it was so hard to gain any type of traction. Whatever works as each and everyone of us thinks differently so it is more about being consistent over the years that helps the growth. Still HIVE is one of the hardest things I have ever tackled and the account I have today I am proud of as this is an achievement that many have failed to see the bigger picture and see it through.
In many ways HIVE has helped me grow as a person in the right ways as I see this as my own time the relaxing time to get away from the daily stresses. This to me is more therapeutical and I do not see this as a chore or a grind and is good fun.
They say that when problem solving put pen to paper to work through those problems and formulate some type of plan. Over the years I have done just that when deciding on what to do whether it is personal or business related. When using a post to solve problems you are literally in another world full focused on the task ay hand and more times than not you will have an answer when the post is completed. HIVE can be a great tool for solving problems and is not just a social platform and is up to each individual on how they use this.
