Steem illuminati confirmed. Mark of the Steem, SSS, on my head. Oh no.
No, I am not so entitled and delusional as to think the world, technology, or even life itself owes me anything.
What I see happening through Steem, though, is something neat. Last year, around August when I quit my job, if it hadn't been for Steemit I really would have been "up shit creek without a paddle" to put it eloquently.
I had just started on Steemit in late July, when some issues surfaced in my workplace at the time, and I had to leave or basically lose my dignity (how I saw it, at least). My phone's auto-correct just changed that to "lose my divinity." Heh. While I wouldn't put it in such an extreme sense, it did feel that way, a little.
Anyway, I quit, and for a month Steem paid a good chunk of my bills. Thankfully I have found another job since then, and one that has, so far, afforded me more time for writing and content creation than most jobs would.
Still, with the lifestyle my wife and I see ourselves leading in the near future, running around like rats in the debt/credit-based, Ponzi scheme world of compulsory schooling, endless gray cubicles, and 3-day vacations to Tokyo Disney once a year just isn't going to cut it. We want to live for a purpose.
What is that purpose?
Good question. I know mine has to do with writing, activism, and research. I feel closer than ever to understanding it since I have been blogging here on Steemit. My wife wants to be a vocal coach, while continuing her studies in massage, aroma therapy, and holistic medicine.
The issues I find myself capable of expending seemingly limitless interested energy on are things to do with freedom. Vaccine injury awareness, libertarianism/voluntaryism/anarchism, and just general, colorful artistic expression (kind of a bullshit cop-out vaguery, I know, but hey...life is colorful) in general. I feel like, in a way, this Steemit blog has helped me to synthesize these categories.
On the path to a different lifestyle with this guy, who always reminds me of what is really important. Love.
What's my point?
While many of the cubicle rat-race runners are doing "much better" than myself financially at present, and are able to relax a bit more with their children in school five days a week (my son is unschooled at home and will be joining a Montessori school from June), I think what we are doing is worth it. I've made some dumb mistakes in my life, and financially have not given myself a solid base from which to start. I see Steem as a chance to change all that.
I know it would be silly to put all my eggs into one Steemy basket, and who knows, maybe this whole thing will peter out in a few years. I do not know. Is Steem always going to be measured by the dollar, and thus be considered by some friends an economic counterfeit? It certainly seems the blockchain revolution is here, however, and I am going to surf the wave, for better or for worse, rather than watching from the shore.
Finally, what is most important about this year of Steem, is not necessarily the Steem payouts (they are indispensable, don't get me wrong) but the psychological payout of having hope that my lifestyle goals are valid, and not just "silly pipe dreams."
That maybe I'm not just an outcast weirdo who "hates modern medicine" and and is a "conspiracy theorist," but, as I know I am, an introspective individual curious about the world, in love with life, and extremely angry with the bastardized version of it that has been foisted upon us.
Life lived outside your purpose is kind of like being this poor fucking dog, dressed up like Santa Claus on a hot day while people take pictures and pretend like everything is okay.
Sometimes, I see Steem as a chance to completely change all this, or, at the very least, to stir up the waters a bit, and bring some freshness--newness--into the way humans live day to day that is much, much needed.
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
