"The Power of Steem"

"To live without hope is to cease to live," said Fyodor Dostoevsky in Demons. Every one of us has hopes, whether we realize it or not. Day after day, we hope to be alive tomorrow, the day after, and the days that follow. We plan how our day will turn out, make plans for our future or our children’s future—what drives us to do this? Hope. Without hope, life is an unfinished story left untold. I totally agree with my personal psychologist, Dostoevsky, on this regard.

When I finally created my Steemit account—which, by the way, was a bit frustrating because it kept rejecting my mobile number, saying it wasn’t valid—I ended up having to use my sister’s number instead. So, anyway, when I first started using this platform, I had high hopes. I’m excited to see what role Steemit will play in my life. I look forward to meeting like-minded people and building an engaged audience through my posts. I believe this platform could open up great opportunities and meaningful connections.

And, to my surprise, I did meet a couple of interesting people—some who were excellent writers or authors, and others who were also highly talented artists, or even both!

There were those who expressed themselves in a no-holds-barred manner, whose words could cut to the core and really make you think for yourself. Perhaps it’s just their personality, or maybe they were going through a tough time or having a bad day, or perhaps it reflected their ‘I won’t be had’ attitude. Either way, I found them equally interesting and Steemit wouldn’t be the same without them.

Sometimes I found myself in heated conversation that left a sour taste, and other times, I saw people arguing in the comments over various issues. Some arguments were perfectly crafted, while others didn’t make much sense. However, this was never really a problem for me. On the contrary, I found it both amusing and enlightening. Of course, I don’t mean that I prefer this kind of engagement—a healthy and intelligent discourse is still the best—but one cannot truly appreciate life’s sweetness without going through its dark and bitter moments.

Personally, I think that’s the true essence of the power of Steem. Its power is anchored in its people, its community, and the engagements that come with it.

This is pretty much my story. Maybe it’s not a fairytale—or is it? I have a lot of hopes for Steem and its rise in the market, but I guess my biggest hope is for people on Steemit to keep writing whatever they enjoy, well into the far future. Still, that remains to be seen. Some of my hopes are already coming true — or are they? Will I get to see it all unfold, or was this just wishful thinking?

The picture was taken from the contest post

I'd like to thank @bluelavender for inviting me to this contest