Steemit Ultimate Challenge 8 Weeks - #4 How Steemit changed my life!

To my new newest inspirator @dobartim, thanks for giving me and so many of us the opportunity to express ourselves!!

It was a beautiful sunny day in the Caribbean. It is the weekend and the airport is filled with happy people arriving from all across the globe to enjoy the beautiful weather and beaches of the Islands.

At the departure gate of this airport is another story. A man is leaving the islands he may never return too. He's a grown man however his eyes is filled with tears. He can hardly look at the airline agent in the face as he gave her his boarding pass to board the aircraft.

Why was this man so sad?
He was leaving behind everything, his family, friends culture at most important,his little daughter.

This man is me @caribbeanmon. This is my story as I left the Caribbean to Europe to start a new life with my wife and how the persistence of friends introduced me to the amazing steemit community.

The Plan
My wife had left the Caribbeans already and was waiting for me in Europe for 3 months. Most people would say you should be happy going to Europe, that's the land of opportunity! I agree I had beautiful thoughts of a new life however they were many uncertainties.

I would have to learn a new language, and culture. There were many rumors that work was hard to find. How would I take care of my family?
I was from a different race with the except me?

But the hardest part was leaving behind my daughter.
Why was I leaving a behind you may ask?
Well unfortunately my daughter wasn't my wife's child. And of course my daughter's mother wanted to make sure that life in Europe would be safe for her daughter and that I would be able to take care of her.

I totally understood that.The reality is, Is my daughter spent most of high life with me before I got married. She was my best friend since I meant my wife.
But I had to leave. life in the Caribbean wasn't working for me and my family I had to make a change.

Europe
To my surprise Europe was much more inviting that I assumed. The country is full of rich culture, history, people food. Languages is one of my favorite hobbies. There were many new languages to learn.

But in fact of all this I didn't see the future of possibilities that was in front of me. I didn't see my beautiful wife her smile the love that she gave me.

I felt hollow inside because I left my daughter behind. I made a promise to my daughter that I would never leave her, I'll always be there for her.
But now I have broken that promise.

Hope
Unfortunately I had allowed depression and negative thoughts to take over my mind. Work was hard to find. I was a foreigner and worse I didn't speak the language.
How can I make enough money to take care of my daughter? How can I convince her mother to have the mobe here with me if I couldn't afford to take care of myself?

Sometimes we reach a point in our lives where we just have to say enough is enough! I started digging and searching trying to find a way to improve my skills into finding a way to improve my life situation. If no one give me an opportunity then I had to Creat my own opportunity.

Steemit
I was introduced to Steemit by a friend who told me that there is a platform where you can earn money by blogging. I tried it but was never consistent with my postings. Again not looking at the big picture, I thought it was too much work, too much effort with no immediate gain. So I gave up.

A couple years later I had a conversation with the same friend @peter-parker. He always kept encouraging me to continue postings but this day he really took the time to explain to me the monetary gains and the future that the platform had. He then showed me the monetary value of the steem dollar.

He drew my attention to my wallet, and to my surprise I had sitting there almost $100 for two years! I was so excited I couldn't believe it. After doing more research I realized that the steemit blockchain had incredible potential.

looking into his wallet he showed me his earnings.To my surprise he had earned almost $20,000!

I was shocked! What a wonderful opportunity that I've missed out on.

A new Beginning
Sometimes life teaches us lessons we either embrace it and learn from it, or we continue making the same mistakes over and over again.

My first few weeks were wonderful. I discovered new talents that I wasn't aware that I had.
Reading stories off incredible people of their successes their consistency and the value that they contributed to the steemit community inspired me.

For example my mentors @peter-parker, and @kus-knee.
They never gave up on me. There will always available to encourage me and provide me with much-needed support.

I've made great friends like @airmatti, @goodvibrations,@lellabird60,@steemitri, @wolfje, @fedescolari and @gee1 and many more.

My inspirators:@clixmoney who recommended me to write this post,
@exyle, @tojukaka, @jerrybanfield, @papa-pepper and my newest inspirator @dobartim.

The Future
Looking into the future my mission is to improve my writing and storytelling skill.
There light at the end of the tunnel is so much brighter.

The most valuable gift Steemit has given me is Hope.

Sometimes it's so easy to lose hope when things don't go away. However if we take the time to embrace the opportunities that we have now, and realize that what we do now paves the road for good or bad future, we will realize that no one controls or destiny but ourselves.

Caribbeanmon 👊🏾

Join the ultimate 8 week challenge here:
https://steemit.com/steemitultimatechallenge/@dobartim/3f7e9a-steemit-ultimate-challenge-8-weeks-prize-fund-2000-sbd-week-4-registration-is-in-progress

2000 sbd to be won!