Seablue Journal: I'm a little stunned today

I've spent today trying to process how much good fortune has come my way.

I joined Steemit in November, 2016, not so much as a blogger, but a curious investor. I had noticed Steem on the Poloniex exchange and noted it's claim to be a 'social media blockchain' and I thought, "...this is going to be interesting!".

I'm not a very gregarious individual. I tend to be private and solitary, so it was a daunting task to reveal myself to a whole slew of strangers. Blogging was never going to be my real skill. Although I like to write in private. I borrowed an old story I had written concerning the death of my father, and used that as my first post. It was received with modest interest and some very kind words a few commentators. I believe @richardcrill was amongst those to comment on my first article.

From here I started to explore how the whole system worked and read as much as possible on the functionality of the platform, it's genesis, it's technology, the mood of its participants to gauge its prospects as an investment.

I stumbled on some articles by @baerdric in which he spoke of external chat applicatons that where being used to compensate for the lack of that functionality on Steemit itself. This brought me to steemit.chat, and then not long after that I heard about a voice chat channel called Steemspeak when I was given an recognition award by Steem Trail. Once I had found my way to a voice chat server, I had found my new home.

Although I was excited about Steemit and Steem, I was more excited about having people to talk to about my experience of the platform. I still didn't post many blog posts. When I did they hardly attracted any interest. I did however comment on many posts by other people. I encouraged those I felt needed it. I worked to spread the news to others about areas of interest I had discovered. I created a network of friends.

On Steemspeak I came upon many of the people that have mentored and guided me ever since. Part of that mentorship led to me eventually taking all the money I could muster at the time, which was a little over $1000, and buying into Steem when the price was between ten and twelve cents. I don't think I would have had the confidence to do so, if it hadn't been for the comfort and encouragement I had received from my friends on Steemspeak.

And now, here I am, a little stunned this day at the good fortune that has landed at my feet. I have certainly directed myself in such a way as to precipitate some of that good fortune. However, much has really stemmed from the wisdom and guidance I have had bestowed upon me by others.

I'm very happy to be a part of Steemit and in particular Steemspeak voice chat on this day. I could list all the people that have helped me, but I don't think I could ever really quantify all the little interactions that have moved me forward in this endeavour. If you know me, you are one of those people that has lifted me up. My thanks to all of you on this day.

Enjoy my obligatory fractal... :-D