To not over stretch your attention span, let's summarize the first 2.5 decades of my life in one sentence.

Born and raised in Germany and despite some unspectacular ups and downs, I went through the classic higher education system using all its amenities, was backed by strong family support and besides always having the subtle intuition of not fitting in 100% and feeling kinda quirky, I was living the real good life.

My crypto adventure began when I put my German feet down on American soil.

In 2014 I moved to San Francisco to work in business development for a German governmental division and pretty much on day one of my arrival I fell dowwwn the rabbit hole. I booked an AirBnB at a fancy startup loft in SoMa and it happened to be run by two Bitcoin entrepreneurs. Well, the only information I had about Bitcoin was from a professor mentioning it once, as the dark currency of the drug market. That was pretty much it. I remember one evening joining a discussion about Bitcoin and how it could solve the back then Greece financial crisis. Maybe I was more like sitting there in silence and listening rather than participating. I was too mind blown, skeptical and busy eating pre-sliced apples out of a plastic container. I know, shame on me, but I had to buy them for the sake of putting a check mark on having the experience of the American idea of laziness errr convenience.

Actually understanding, that Bitcoin as an alternative currency is really just the tip of the iceberg in blockchain heaven took a while.

First things first. For the next couple of months I was busy with working hard and diving into the magic of Silicon Valley. Short conclusion: If you are seeking inspiration, adventures and interested in meeting one of the most creative, driven, intelligent and diverse crowd of people ever, I highly recommend to spend some time in SF, Oakland or the Valley. Go there with an open mind and I promise you -it's pure magic- and you'll be not the same afterwards. Berlin has a similar magnetic and magnificent effect! The difference? The weather, of course. Plus, the almost provoking coolness of Berlin is definitely missing in always too-happy California. But in reverse, Berlin will never reach the level of sick madness that can be found in CA. So, make sure to add and cross off both any time soon on your bucket list.

Back to my crypto enlightenment

From my AirBnB I moved into a 60-people-hacker-house, then into a conscious living community on Alamo Square and finally ended up in Palo Alto at a house, which can be for sure called a must stop for all technomads, VR artists and cypherpunks. Let me know if you want to know more about it. #heavenplace

When I first heard of self-governing systems, opt-in societies, smart contracts, DAOs, etc., I almost feel embarrassed to admit but... I was really disturbed by it! Nuts! Anarchists, especially the 386 types of (crypto)-anarchists, basic income hippies, blockchain-preachers, you name them. Nutcases! All these people, lots of them are highly intelligent, sitting on a throne building theoretical models of how it should be and playing around with crypto assets because they can, while the real world struggles with real world problems.

There's a thin but crucial line between insanity and brilliancy ...and insanity is inappropriate, isn’t it? Well, sometimes you have to walk on this line to combine the best of both worlds and make the impossible possible. #lessonslearned

I always saw myself as an open-minded and compassionate being, living and motivated by the standard of lifelong learning within our current system. The current system(!) When new input is about to overthrow the way your belief-systems functions, questions prior life-/education-decisions you have made and subconsciously already knowing that your mind flipped completely, that was quite a struggle for me. Especially, because I found myself more and more dreaming about crytopia while working in a real world job and not actively participating in any projects I am actually excited about. Great mind flip song to be accompanied on your mission https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcr12ap-Qe0">here

Being back in Germany I was still blown away by all the new things I've learned and I was working on my final thesis about the relevance and risks of Bitcoin. Nevertheless, slowly but steadily the voice of -now you have to make money and find a solid job- became louder. For a while, I was about to slip back into my cozy comfort zone, thinking of jobs that get you all of the money you deserve after studying so hard and shower you with glory and perks (haha...), not making you worry about the world and its bucket full of shit that's going on. Oh my. What a sweet life the uninformed life.

Kind of an excuse but more of an attempted explanation why I struggled so much between the worlds for almost a year: It took quite a bit for me to process all these crypto things and acknowledging that it’s -of course- the way to go for a better future :-) Freeing your mind from programmed cultural norms, imprinted social and systemic rights + wrongs and leaving your comfort zone is hard. It's especially hard, when you never experienced injustice on a very personal level that hurt you, you also have this very loving but too-down-to-earth family background and then you're on the edge of joining this very small crowd of ridiculously crazy, starry-eyed idealists, that get too often lost in too deep discussions about the what ifs and should be accompanied by a collection of the most annoying internet-trolls ever. No worries though, the vast majority is a collection of shining role models, brave freethinker, utopists, code virtuosi and reckless first-movers.

Long story short: In the beginning, I mentioned that I found myself always kinda in between the cracks and never in the right place, now, having learned so much in the last 2 years and especially learning, that sometimes it’s better to think outside the box, I have the feeling that I found my people and can't wait for robots taking over our jobs, living on free individual consensus and jumping into a starship to visit other galaxies thanks to all of you crypto geeks, blockchain lovers, people who are already working hard on their mission, curious novices, thought leaders and space cats ❤I’m on it❤

Are you on the edge of becoming a crypto cat? Not sure yet where to start? Personally, I started of with buying some Bitcoin.; there are plenty of very easy to use platforms and wallets. Read about the cypherpunk movement, silkroad, the non-aggression principle. Educate yourself on why encryption matters, why decentralization is key and free markets are a must. Then explore smart contracts, self governing systems, voting systems, reputation systems. Start with reading papers on Nakamoto Institute Check out other crypto currencies on Coinmarketcap Just random points to start of from.

Caution: It’s mind blowing, it’s the future, information can’t be unseen ;-)

Oh and here are some boobs

Would be nice to read other stories of how people had a #mindflip of any kind ❤