Sunday Musings: A Very Small Steemit Personal Milestone — Definitely "Better Life!"

As of this morning, I had reached 7,227.538 Steem Power, after claiming the previous day's rewards.

That might sound like a very strange and "uneven" number to notice, but it had personal significance in that it eclipsed the previous highest staked amount I reached — 7,226.363 SP — which I had reached on October 3rd, 2017, almost four years ago.

Unfortunately, I ended up having to start powering down at that point, in order to round up all possible sources of funding so we could pay our property taxes.

At the time, the price of Steem was $1.17, so it really made a difference in our lives... testament to the truth of the ongoing "Better Life" challenge that has been running here in the Steemit community, for some time now.

Without it, we might have lost our home to tax foreclosure!

Turbulent Times

That powerdown lasted till my balance dropped to somewhat below 2,000SP before I could stop and start building my stake again. Which I continued to do till November 8th, 2018... when yet another financial hardship situation arose and I started powering down again, this time all the way to just 472.898 SP by February 1st, 2019.

Since then, I have — thankfully — been able to gradually let my SP balance build, and I am hoping there will be no more "emergency" powerdowns... although you should never say "never."

The "Secret" to Success...

People who are new to the Steemit community often wonder whether there's some kind of "secret" or "magic pill" that will ensure success here.

The only one I have been able to find is to be consistent, to be perseverant and patient, to "show up" every day (if you can), and to always do your best... regardless of whether the price of Steem is eight cents or eight dollars. And I have actually seen both those prices... not making it up!

That, and realize that succeeding here is a long term proposition, not an overnight miracle!

Long Term Savings, not a Cash Machine!

People sometimes think I'm lying when I say that I didn't come here for the money. But it's true, I really didn't.

I came here to read an article that was at the end of a link a friend sent me on Facebook. That article was a commentary about a different crypto project not at all related to Steemit... but the article was published on Steemit.

I ended up creating an account and start blogging because the discussion in the comments seemed far more intelligent and respectful than what was going on in Facebook and Reddit forums at the time. I actually didn't expect to make even a single solitary cent here, because my experience with venues that pay people for creating content was "100% failure."

And so, it was very surprising to me that I actually managed to make a bit of real money here!

"How real?" Well, at it's peak in January 2018, my Steem account was worth in excess of US $22,000. Of course, then we had the prolonged crypto slump and most of that value was erased. But still, it was fun while it lasted!

Anyway, perhaps the most important thing I learned for myself along the way was to treat this whole gig as an opportunity to build long term savings. It's not a glorified "cash machine" and nobody "promises" us that we will get compensated for our efforts.

Thankfully, I really enjoy writing... and I have met some cool and interesting people along the way!

So that's my update for today. We shall resume "regular programming" tomorrow! In the meantime, thanks for reading, and have a wonderful week ahead!

How about YOU? Have you had any major Steemit milestones? Do you have any long term goals in participating here? Have you ever done any major powerdowns? Were you happy you could, or have you regretted it? Do leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20210627 22:55 PDT
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