The Hardest Part Is Always Hello

Transformation. That sensation that always seems to linger around the new year like some erratic pulsar on the verge of a second supernova. A feeling of hope but also of utter impossibility.

My name is Mustapha Diomande. I don't know how to say "hello" very well. It's always seemed like a very strange way to begin. But here I am. And there you are. This is the start of a story on my transformation. How I'm learning to speak. How I'm working towards creating something new. So hello. Pleased to meet you.

Who am I?

Well, to put it shortly, I'm nobody. Though I have a few friends, a few hobbies, a few Netflix shows I like to binge late into the night sometimes, I am at my core nonexistent. I work an aimless job in IT secretly praying that one day my manager will walk on down to my office and straight-up fire me. I don't have much of any influence in the world of social media. I haven't yet become a grandmaster in chess. I live with my aunt.

But that's not all bad. I kind of like it sometimes. Being nothing has a certain kind of comfort to it. Yet there's something inside of me that evades this pull towards erasure. One aspect of myself that utterly refuses to accept this fate. And that's hope.

You see, I have an idea. A new idea. A bold idea. An idea that I can't pound out of my head at night. One that keeps beating like cosmic war drums in my jugular. And if I don't see it come to life then I think that I might actually explode.

There's this hope inside of me that I can do it. A relentless ambition. That I can bring it forth into being. That I can use it to help those I love — my family, my closest friends. That I can help the world. That I can finally begin to speak for myself. And so I will.

A New Abstract

Alright, alright. I may have gotten myself carried away there and you probably have no idea what the hell I'm talking about. So I'll tell you: I'm working on an app.

It's called Aeolion. It aims to bring STEEM into a new era.

The idea struck me about six months ago. I felt a force well up within me. It was sudden, strong, beautiful. I knew that I had to get to work. And fast. But I was afraid. The realization that this was far more than a generic TODO app quickly crept up on me. Seemingly simple issues became months-long nightmares. UI design, implementing strong security, battling utterly baffling legal intricacies. It was all beginning to feel... heavy. That kind of heaviness that won't let you lift your arms to type on the keyboard any longer. A heaviness that becomes silence.

Yet that damn hope of mine refused to be silenced. And so I stuttered. Pushing code through my throat. Feeling despair knock against my teeth. But I continued. I had no other choice. A tool that can help hundreds of thousands of people. A way to give power to students and artists and all those that are brave enough to learn and create. A better life for my family. I had to speak.

And thus became Aeolion.

Beyond the beyond

Aeolion is still under active development at the moment so I can't reveal too much (Plus who doesn't enjoy a little mystery?). But it aims to go beyond what STEEMIT is currently capable of — to unlock a new potential if you will. Beyond features, it hopes to gain widespread adoption and bring the power of the blockchain to all — even if they don't fully realize that they're actually using it.

That's all I can say for now. I'm still learning to master this new speech of mine after all. Forgive me.

So in the meantime: a puzzle. A string tied up in a stream of consciousness. Waiting to be unraveled. Half-spoken syllables that predate the word. Abstract, symbolic. Misdirections, missed connections. Are you up for a challenge? Well, then go ahead...

Unravel Aeolion's first post on Steemit here

This is only the beginning. As I'm slowly gaining a feeling for this new sense of speech, clarity and eloquence will follow suit. I promise.

This isn't goodbye

While I've never been good at saying hello, I don't plan on saying goodbye anytime soon. Though I don't have much influence on STEEMIT yet, I plan to be an active part of this community. While I will be spending most of my time working on finishing Aeolion before a planned beta release in late February, I hope to continue posting and curating the amazing works that others have published to this awesome application.

See you amongst the clouds my friends.

If you'd like to stay updated on the future of Aeolion...

You can follow the company here:

Steemit - https://steemit.com/@aeolion-io
Twitter - https://twitter.com/aeolion_io
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/aeolion_io/

Photo/Image credits

1. Photo by https://unsplash.com/@yoal_des
2. Photo by Mustapha Diomande
3. Image by Aeolion LLC
4. Image by Aeolion LLC
5. Photo by https://unsplash.com/@nightcrawler1986