Reflections en Route

I have purposely starting my cross Atlantic journey by sitting and wanting to have some thoughts processed as I begin to unwind and look forward to the two weeks ahead of me with the family. It has been a busy year for me in many aspects as challenges continue to arise across the spectrum of life. I have often measured my life and its “status” by dividing it in four broad categories: work, family, self and community. I currently find myself probably the most well balanced in these categories I have ever been and that is where the challenge lies.

There seems to be forces at work that seek to move my efforts off balance towards one of the categories. For example, I find myself passionately seeking more ways to further my engagement here in the Steem ecosystem. However, given the amount of development currently taken place and the potential of a crypto spring in the works; it takes a lot of effort and time to fully leverage the opportunities at hand to broaden reach into the community and find more followers and development to grow my account and move towards my dreamnof achieving Orca status. This has tradeoffs as this continues to be more of a part time effort for me and my priorities of myself and family should not be part of the equation.

That leaves my career and while I have come to realize that the Corporate world is a sort of trap for those that are not careful, it continues to be a material part of the way I support my family and my lifestyle. I had felt that I was down a challenging path where I was not able to liberate myself from the vicious cycle of consumerism; but I have been able to recognize the benefits or more organization and toned down living to achieve freedoms in the future and bo longer depend on an organization to provide for my lifestyle. This is another reason why I have such high passions for Steem and crypto as it is an opportunity to shift that dependence. I often envision a time in life where my decision today can help that of my future and that instead of working for money, the money can work for me!

However, deviating from our customs and traditions is often difficult as it is what is what we learn. In particular for me, I have sort of been lucky to find myself at the right place and at the right time for great opportunities that have often propelled my career into more progressive levels; much further than I could have ever given imagined. I have worked hard to achieve where I am but I still believe that I find myself at the peak of my ability to perform and create value. Most of that value is for others but I am now getting into a phase were my maturity has allowed me to start to leverage my achievements and rewards to focus on my own value and the potential of what I can build for myself and the family.

However, as with many organizations these days, we continue to evolve and adapt to the growing competitive and technological environment which has given me the opportunity to further progress in my career. I have been an agent of change in the company as I have been through a number of reorganizations and launches over the years and it seems as though we are close to another. I continue to hear that I may be selected once again for a new role that may be yet another step higher in the Corporate Ladder. Sounds great but it also has the potential to once again pull me away from the balance and priorities I have established. It may be a short term deviation but could lead to more capabilities to fund the future endeavors I want to engage in.

Passing Bermuda now recalls priors moments in life I spent on a plane for work which were stressful as I still remember landing for a shower at the airport to be off to a day of meetings; no recovery of the jet lag until the night. It reminds me of why I tried to slow down that trend of work to balance the rest of my life. This potential opportunity may bring back those days of late hours and travel so things to certainly think about. I am hoping this time off allows me to reflect a bit about my next steps and where the journey will lead in these demanding aspects. It will certainly be interesting to adapt to the changes either way.

My intention is to try this out as my first post to PALNet. I was excited to claim my tokens and stake most of them before getting on the flight! While I will need some time to adjust to the new time zone, I look forward to experimenting with the community which seems anxious for these developments. I have also been testing some of the Hive account@tokenbb forums and think they are awesome to engage on chain but in a different way. These are just two example of how far Steem has gone in developing to address the needs of the ecosystem. Very encouraging to see how this will attract more projects and communities to the ecosystem which has me wanting to be a part of it all more and more. Looking forward the thoughts in the coming days!