Earlier today I read this post by @anomadsoul: The Silliest Milestone Ever and it made me realize that my 1 year steemit birthday is both a silly thing to celebrate, while at the same time, really important for me as a creative.
Oooo... a dichotomy, I love that word 😉
The milestone is silly for the reason that any milestone on steemit really is. In the grand cosmic scale of things what I'm actually doing is marking the virtual birth of a space where I create stories that will remain in peoples minds for an instant or if I'm really lucky a week at most.
But, the celebration of our successes are important, if only to oil the wheels of ambition. To keep that drive going, I'm marking a concept, a celebration of the act of creation in the written word. It is equally true that on steemit, when you stop looking at payout and focus on improving your work, or finding a niche, or any of the other paths that actually lead you to writing a more professional blog, things tend to improve. This feeds into why it can be good to celebrate milestones, as it shifts your focus away from watching and worrying about payouts.
Source: Quotefancy.com
It may seem highhanded to quote Buddah but it is relevant in this context. Approaching steemit with an outward facing focus, looking to improve others experience with votes and comments, building or actively contributing to communities, will all make steemit life a lot more satisfying. This has been my experience anyway. Acceptance is key to a lot of things in life, and by this I don't mean lying down for a beating, I'm talking about internal self acceptance of things that you cannot change. I'm a minnow, I have low steem power. I can not change any of these things. When I first accepted these realities, around 3 months into my steem journey, this is when opportunities started to arise.
Check out the post here
The Next Milestone I Plan to Celebrate
I recently entered the steemfestdreams competition to try and win a free ticket to the ultimate steemit week of networking madness. Check out the link to the post above to read more about my project plans and reasons for wanting to attend the conference. To further elaborate on the idea of acceptance of what is, these ambitions very much reflect this ethos. I'm broke, I can't afford to go without selling a bunch of stuff or getting into debt, but all of this doesn't necessarily matter unless I build some type of idea in my head about what/why it is all so unfair. The reality is that it is what it is. I will continue to do what I've been doing on steemit regardless.
It is a strange thing but in accepting the reality of not being able to go in late June when I first considered the trip, a set of circumstances have started that seem to be conspiring to remove many of these barriers. In focusing on building my blog network, staying positive and marking milestones with a little, silly pat on the back, things just seem to be coming together. There is some quote swimming about in my head right now about the path of least resistance but I can't remember it properly. I guess it is more a case of focus and trying to be happy in what you're doing. People can feel this in your writing, even across oceans and through the binary seas of cyberspace. I am staying positive and hope to see you all at steemfest 3 in November 🙏
Here is a poem that I wrote for the steemfest dreams competition that expresses some of what it means to me to be on this road to Krakow. I hope you enjoy.
Steemfest Dreams
Dreaming of steemfest 3,
dreaming mosaic tiled miles
of domed Krakow skyline.
Dreaming our time to shine,
blockchain framed ecosystem,
enflamed binary thoughts,
sublime naughts and ones.
Dreaming of fleeting sunsets
and snowy flowing coats
draped over steeples,
floating flakes in night's
sharp embrace.
Dreaming Krakow lights,
baselines alight in celebration,
staccato flowing pinnacles
laying memories in cessation
of limitations.
Dreaming of steemfest
conversations, building
the building blocks
of our future-proof
blockchain-nation.
Dreaming of planning,
to remove poverty's trappings,
dapp-themed rapping
in decentralized avatars-
dreaming vodka
to warm the cockles,
and the northern star
winking at this
brave new world.
Dreaming of writing
my part in this steem-story,
and watching other's...
journeys unfurl.
Before I get further drawn into this freewrite, I am going to say adiós, auf wiedersehen, vaarwel, addio, au revoir, goodbye and finally do widzenia. It is time for cake and beer, after all it is my birthday 🍻🍰 😉
Join us @steemitbloggers
Animation By @zord189
Hahahah congrats and happy 1 year old!
Thanks a lot mate. As the almighty Butt @buttcoins said to me when I told him it was my 1 year on steemit: 'your out of diapers now' 😂
Cheers for the juice btw... I'm loving it lol
This post has received a 18.28% upvote from @lovejuice thanks to @dj123. They love you, so does Aggroed. Please be sure to vote for Witnesses at https://steemit.com/~witnesses.
Lovin that juice! 🙂
Congrats
Thanks Viper 🙂
Happy 1 year! I didn't realize that we had joined steemit around the same time. Love your poem about steemfest and hope you get to go! I'll just be sitting here all jealous and living through you vicariously.
Thank you @sunravelme. Yeah, I saw that you joined in late July. I bumbled around for the first month not really knowing what to do. I got 2 curie votes at the end of that first month and eventually got my detective hat on and followed the vote trail to work out what the heck was going on. I eventually found my way to their steemit.chat room. It took me at least 2 months to find discord, writers block was my first channel and so we met. I have to say a huge personal thank to you and @geke as you both were the people who most inspired me in workshop feedback & general support in those early days. Although I may not have projected this, I had very little confidence in my poetry at that time.
Thanks for the well wishes for steemfest also, if I make it their will be loads of posts about it, but maybe only a few during the festival with most of them the week after 🙂 Plenty to inspire much jealousy and vicariousness across the steem-o-sphere.
I love how you phrased this. Congratulations on your milestone and I also felt Steemit become much more rewarding the more I began to interact with people and groups.
It is so true and honestly, although I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing, it is impossible to grow your blog on steemit without joining discord communities. Probably a good thing when I think about it as it does make steemit the most engaging blogging platform out there.
Thanks for the congrats @papacrusher, I appreciate it 🙂
Happy Birthday to a good bloggy bloke!
Cheers Jay. As you can see I have been busy 🙂 Share some cake with me brother.... 🍰..... and some beer to wash it down with 🍺🍻
Congratulations on your one-year-old birthday on Steemit @raj808!!! May your dream of attending Steemfest in Krakow come true to celebrate this milestone you have achieved here on this platform!! One year isn't too long not short, but kudos for enjoying the platform and determination to stay on :) Congratulations too upon your acceptance into the sndbox cohort 2 too. Cheers!
#steemitbloggers
Thanks @happycrazycon. I appreciate your support 🙂 #steemitbloggers for life
Wow, you've come a long way in just one year; congratulations...
Thanks @wales. Appreciate the congrats mate 🙂
Happy 1 year :D I personally like a milestone, especially a yearly one. They feel like an accomplishment especially if it's something you out effort into. Sometimes that effort is just living through tough times while others it can be simply working hard at self improvements or making the world a slightly better place to be in for someone.
happy 1 year anniversary Rowan!!!!! =)