I was reminded again today of something absolutely fantastic that I really love about the platform today...
Somehow, I'd actually forgotten about this for a long time.
I suppose the disillusionment I'd gone through when Steem price (and consequentially, rewards) crashed earlier did a good job at disconnecting me from some great memories here in the early days.
Anyways...
I recall one of the most interesting days I ever had on Steemit, when I began seeing my votes amounting to something.
At first, it was only a few cents. Yet, there was this weird psychological effect of seeing a simple click of a button put a bit of money into someone's wallet, in exchange for the value I received from reading their posts.
As the vote values grew to 10 cents, 50 cents, a buck, and a few bucks, so did the psychological effect.
It felt really damn good to offer such appreciation for content that I geniunely appreciated, in the form of boosting their financial position. Completely different than "Liking" something on Facebook or "favoriting/hearting" it on Twitter.
And today, as I voted on some trending posts and saw the rewards value climb by nearly/around/over $10... that gleeful satisfaction returned.
For real...
Being able to upvote a post because you really truly do enjoy the content and are grateful for the time & effort someone has put into the post - and to have that show of appreciation reward them, without money coming out of your own pocket... this lies somewhere between absolutely brilliant and sounding too good to be true. But it is true.
This is a phenomena with this platform that REALLY sets it apart.
As much as I enjoy logging in to see how much my last post earned - in all honesty, there is a far greater sense of amusement and fulfillment in seeing my votes bump up someone else's rewards who I feel is contributing great material to the community.
I love it.
There's a part of me that is still so engrained in old conventional financial/economic models, that I can't quite totally wrap my head around the dynamics behind this and how it actually works. But nonetheless, it does. And being able to pay forward some of the appreciation and (monetary) blessings with a simple vote - and to an extent that it'd actually amount to enough to buy a beer, sandwich, latte, or bag of fuzzy rubber duckies... well, that's just awesome in so many ways.
Call this post a circle-jerk, some may. Fuck it.
Total newbies on the site who haven't invested into Steem Power may not get what I'm talking about, as votes might not be worth much at all without SP. Though, I think it's fair to offer a head's up and share what it is like once Steem Power is rising and it's time to head to the ballots.
Getting paid for content is great. And that's straightforward.
Reading great content is great. And everyone can relate to that.
But liking / voting for great content, and have that vote weighted with power that the contributor can take into the market place and exchange, withdraw, or invest... it's rather mind-boggling, really.
I mean... I just stumbled across a post by 
I can't quite put into words the implications my brain is once again scrambling to process with this.
This truly is a whole new type of economy.
The world is undergoing profound economic shifts. And a decentralized, digitized economy such as Steem(it) is such an innovative breakthrough in changing the ways we create, offer, share, and reward value - it's almost unbelievable.
Maybe it was a bit selfish to have taken such a long break from the platform because I wasn't seeing the same level of rewards that justified pouring the same amount of time and energy into it at first. Yet, there's no doubt now that it is indeed worth it to pick back up - and not just for my own rewards, but to pay forward the same type of blessings the community has given me by using my voting power to reward those contributing enrichening value to the site that are making it a strong, wealthier, vibrant ecosystem to benefit all who approach it with the right attitude (namely, adding massive value.)
That's all for now.
Gratitude, expressed. With each upvote, for each story that we see is adding some light, happiness, wisdom, knowledge, and more to our days...