Today I did something I have wanted to do for a while. When I first arrived to Steemit, all of my rewards got powered up but, a little while ago I started Powering down. The reason wasn't to take the money and run, although at times it has been close that it would have been required as doctors bills and treatment for our daughter ate two years hard savings in less than 6 months.
But Steemit was my investment for our future. A risk in something new offering the chance to break out of a cycle of debt through investing in myself. And I invest heavily. I could fill many buckets with the sweat equity I have put in. Cashing the rewards out though would be a last resort and I keep working hard in the real world too, so we never hit that bottom floor.
Staying in
I have never been in the position where I have had any extra to invest in stocks or a portfolio, or more likely, when I could have I was too stupid to realise it. I also didn't know anything about cryptocurrencies other than the basics I had gleaned from random articles. Again, too stupid to realise.
I was never a great student and numbers haven't really been my thing past the basics. For me, to understand something well, I need to play and be a part of it. See the connections between points and how pulling or pushing one effects those around it. The problem was, I had nothing to play with. Nothing to pluck the strings with.
The reason for the Power Down was to learn. What I did today though was I stopped the power down. For now at least. With the Hard Fork my vote is worth more (not much, but more) and I feel like I can actually help build the community past my writing. I will power up even more in time though I will still move some out to continue playing with.
Vote trails
I ran an experiment for a couple of weeks following a few voting trails but I stopped it after two as I found that I had upvoted all of Trending. Not that I had a great effect but it is the ethics of it. There are people that are more deserving of my vote in my opinion, people who need the 80 odd cents I now have more than adding it to an already massive payout.
This is not about the articles in Trending, many I would have upvoted anyway probably, many others I would have never. The reason I ran the experiment with following a trail was to see what it did. Again, I learn by doing. I suspected it would follow trending so it was no surprise, but how heavily it adhered was.
I have nothing against it but I didn't feel morally right about it either as it was insensitive to the authors themselves as I didn't read their work and not great for all of the struggling posters that just seeing another vote and a few cents come their way may be enough to inspire them to stick through, improve and invest in themselves.
More love
The other reason I did it was to see how voting power worked in practice. I do read people's articles here but between my business and writing for Steemit, I honestly do not have the time to read and spread my vote wide. Now, with more power and fewer votes, I can actually concentrate my vote and spread it as wide as I have time to read. This for me is excellent.
I feel like I can actually help people that need it now. I have also started resteeming more too but I will never go crazy (at least until there is a filter). It started when my wife and brother joined and I wanted them to see quickly how the platform worked and how the community support would back them. It helped them. I should help others too.
In some ways, I should apologise to those I haven't resteemed as there have been many worthy articles. I just wasn't ready. Sorry. Today I feel I am ready to invest more heavily again. I will spend more time reading and upvoting and resteeming as much as I am comfortable with. Not much I am sure, but I will try and spread great writing and ideas further.
My failings
It is funny. Writing this, I feel embarrassed about the power down, embarrassed for not pulling my weight. Embarrassed to benefit from it at all. I feel like I have stolen from family even though I am yet to see a cent of it personally and what I have received, I have worked very hard for. I know this isn't the case, I know that Power Downs much larger than my meagre amounts are common and it is smart to move resources to several locations, but still; embarrassed.
I actually do not yet know how to get walking world money but I will have to learn about that too. If only there was a place where people posted detailed information about cryptocurrencies. I am sure there are some articles somewhere around the internet, maybe google will know.
The greater community
I just said I feel like I stole from family and that goes to show something. The community here really is great if it makes people want to invest further into it, help shape it, add more value and support others to do the same. I really feel like that. I feel like by investing in you here, I am investing in me and investing in me is also investing in you.
If there was ever an economy that should be supported and developed, it is one that people feel that by putting into it, they get value returned. It is a circular economy that is continually corkscrewing upwards. Where will it end? Who knows, but I hope that it will be well past the moon and much closer to the sun.
Anyway, with all of these rambling words, I am grateful to the community here. Thank you.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
