I am not an angel.

No one is.

I am very well acquainted with my own shortcomings, flaws and problems. I want to talk very honestly about the reasons I will be giving away two tickets to Steemfest, and paying for their hotel, airfare and food.

Steemit has given me everything I have today.

I learned how to trade cryptocurrencies, learned how the blockchain works and why Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin. I studied everything I could get my hands on when I first found Steemit by accident in June 2016. Without a rational thought, or any economic stability, I instantly gave up my regular job (I worked as a writer for the website, Interesting Engineering, plus I was a ghostwriter for a CEO of a software company.) I wrote for my living, but I was not compensated very well. I was earning about $2,000 per month as a science/tech writer.

The reason I gave up everything once I joined Steemit is because I had no choice.

Overnight, I became 100% obsessed with Steem. I was not able to focus on anything else. I hardly slept those first few weeks when I got into Steemit. It was an addiction worse than heroine, alcohol, sex and cigarettes combined. But for once in my life, my addiction was giving me something in return. This had never happened before.

The reason I am giving away 2 tickets to Steemfest is because I will not be going. I want to go, but for personal reasons, I can't. I'm a hyper-sensitive person and the thought of flying again is a bit terrifying. So, I had a chance to think about my situation, and I couldn't help but feel depressed about telling Hive account@roelandp that I would again not be attending Steemfest2. I wanted somehow to make a difference, and it was in that moment of feeling depressed and agitated about this, I realized I could afford to send not one person, but two people in my place to Steemfest2.

It was around this time that I saw Hive account@aggroed's post about him helping to fund a minnow to go to Steemfest2. I knew I had to do this also, because Steem made it all possible. I could resist my recent tendency to hoard and grow Steem, and I could send two deserving people a trip that they would otherwise not be able to afford. I could find humble, decent people who care about others, and I could pay for them to go.

I didn't get to where I am by accident.

But I was lucky, and a lot of whales voted for me day, after day. Some days I experienced guilt about this because on one hand, I was a Steemit addict, and was posting every day, so I didn't have much of a conscious choice....but I felt that other new authors were being overlooked. I saw a huge need to get more readers and critical thinkers who like to curate on here. Thank you to all the whales who voted for me. I feel indebted to you all, and I hope you can see that I have come a long way in understanding the concept of a decentralized autonomous organization and why Steemit was even created in the first place.

I also worked my tail off.

I was always trying new concepts, business ideas and generally, I tried to fill in the gap that no one had thought about. Experimentation has always been my main game. And research. I'm still an information addict, actually, more so now that I have time to read. (Thank you)

I studied Bytemaster's Blog and whenever I feel empty and run down from what's happening in Steemit, I go back here and read something new. I am very grateful that Hive account@dan wrote these essays. They are mind-blowing.

I'm still analyzing my own selfish tendencies.

The root cause of my selfish money pursuits is fear. I am afraid that somehow I will become irrelevant, old-hat in here. I'm scared that somehow greed will take over Steemit, and make our investments wither and die. I am deathly afraid of becoming poverty-stricken again. It is this fear that drives me both to create and to hoard.

But I am aware that too much fear ends up producing bad results, less money and more problems. Letting this fear go was one of the reasons I decided to go against my hoarding tendency, and give away thousands of Steem. I am looking forward to releasing the Steem to others.

Before I found Steemit, I had about $2,000 in savings and a lot of debt. I am a single parent, and I also take care of my parents to some degree. I was definitely not in a good financial situation last year. I am in the best financial situation I've ever been in my adult life right now.

I can afford to send two people to Steemfest2, so that is what I'm doing.

Steem Work Makes The Dream Work
(Hive account@ned coined this phrase on Twitter)

Cheers,
Stellabelle

I wanted everyone to know what projects I have either been supporting, creating or am in the process of forming.

I supported:

Project Venezuela Hive account@provenezuela
Hive account@steemgigs

I created:

a local Bitcoin School in my city (next class is August 12) We actually spend more time talking about Steem than anything else.
My Steemfest2 Giveaway (all expenses paid for 2 people to go to Steemfest2)

And one project that Hive account@ackza and I working together on is Hive account@electricworld. We want to give every Steemian who doesn't have a reliable source of power for their smartphone/computer a power battery pack. We're in the beginning stages of organizing this and an account and steemit channel, called #electricworld has been created for this purpose.