In a few days I will have been on Steemit for one year.
This seems like a most opportune time to review and evaluate where I have been, and where I hope to get to on steem.
For nearly 365 days now steem has been with me every single day.
It certainly has had an impact on me. I think I could surely say that impact has been as profound as when I discovered the internet in 1994.
I believe steem has made me a better person... but that may be for others to judge.
Before I came to steem I was not really a 'social network' sort of person.
I tried and tested most social networks - Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc. But only in the context of learning enough to sell my services to clients to help them on those platforms as part of my wider web work.
For a few months BS (Before Steem) I had been skipping in and out of a UK Preppers forum - but the numbers and engagement were so low it was barely worth the effort.
I also spent a while building the prototype of a preppers news service.
But then along came steem.
Like so many others I discovered it through a Youtube video - either by @jerrybanfield or @jeffberwick.
As part of developing my homestead and moving towards having the potential to go offgrid I have been wanting to invest in a solar PV system.
Seeing the beginning of the rise of Bitcoin at the time, and finding a UK company selling PV for Bitcoin, I decided to try my luck in the crypto world to see if I could raise the funds for the PV installation.
Steemit quickly slotted into that plan.
I joined in the midsummer boom last year and quickly found my way into the growing homesteaders and preppers community.
I revived my Pennsif's Progress daily blog that I had been writing on the preppers forum, and then I had the idea to compile the list of Homesteaders and Preppers on steemit.
That really kicked it off on the networking front and was a great way to get to know many other likeminded people on the platform.
I weaved in and out of posting on various homesteading and prepping topics, experimented with contests and tried various ideas along the way.
But apart from the odd time the lucky Curie dice rolled my way the post rewards in that area were quite meagre. A post that topped a dollar was something to celebrate. @kennyskitchen hadn't yet given birth to @tribesteemup to help support and encourage alternative thinking folk.
The more I learnt about steem the more potential I could see in the platform.
This started sparking off new ideas for me here, there and everywhere. SteemTowns, Cooking with Steem, SteemCommerce, A Dollar A Day, a SteemWales meetup... and then came the radio.
The Alternative Lifestyle Show was some months in the gestation phase but finally kicked off at the beginning of the year. It wasn't long before a second radio show popped out of my head when My Life in 8 Songs was born.
With all these projects and plans I have learnt so, so much, and I have got to know so many totally interesting people all around the world.
It has been a great year.
But I do feel I have lost sight of my original mission.
That mission was to make money to invest in the renewable energy kit I need to move towards offgrid living.
The mission though was not just to make money - if it was I am sure I should have been cuddling up to the bidbots big time and chasing down every little angle to make an extra dollar.
The mission was to make money and do good along the way.
That doing good bit could be manifested by doing good for other people or doing good for the planet.
I think I might have done some good along the way.
The list of Homesteaders and Preppers and the Alternative Lifestyle Show I believe have helped in a small way to support homesteaders and preppers on the platform who are all doing good on the platform.
The A Dollar A Day project, although still early days, I am sure has already helped just a little bit to improve the education of slum children in Bangladesh, to put the shoes on the feet of kids in Venezuela, to provide funds to help parents fighting family protection injustices.
That project I believe has so much potential to demonstrate the power of the steem blockchain.
Now I feel I want to refocus my energies on steem.
Does everything I do add value to my mission?
I want to work at three levels.
Personal
At the personal level I want re-energise my homesteading and prepping activities. I will share as much as I can and through The Alternative Lifestyle Show and the MSP Sustainability Curation strive to help other homesteaders and preppers as much as possible.
Local Community
At a community level I am going to revisit my ideas and projects for building a local steem community here in west Wales. My plans for this got off to a good start under the auspices of #promo-steem but after the rise, rise and fall of steem at the beginning of the year my progress on this front stuttered and stumbled into near oblivion.
Now having witnessed first hand through A Dollar A Day some of the magnificient, and almost heroic, ways steemians are helping their communities around the world I feel absolutely compelled to see what I can do with steem on the homefront.
Global
At the global level A Dollar A Day will be the pinpoint focus of my efforts.
In the few short weeks it has been up and running again it has been nothing short of a revelation to me.
I have discovered the real meaning of money and I have uncovered the real potential of steem.
I am not by any means wealthy but in the context of the world as a whole in the UK I inhabit the privileged space of the top 5%.
Steem can be both an equaliser and an amplifier.
1 SBD in the UK is a packet of chocolate biscuits, in many parts of the world it is a day's food for a family of four.
That puts it all in perspective for me.
So that is my framework for my personal journey going forward on steem.
Personal - Local - Global
Building self reliance - Lessening the impact on the planet - Doing good for others.
This may all sound pretentious and possibly, to coin a phrase from the mighty, somewhat self aggrandising.
But that is me and this is my song.
If at anytime you would like to join in the chorus and sing along I welcome you...
Thank you and good night.
You might also be interested in some of my other posts :
MY RADIO SHOWS :
My Life in 8 Songs - Thursday 7 June - with @yidneth, @entrepreneur916 and @steemcafe
The Alternative Lifestyle Show - Friday 1 June 2018 [recording]
SteemRadio - schedule of all the steemit radio shows - week beginning 4 June 2018
MY PROJECTS :
A Dollar A Day charitable giving project update : US$ 1000 in donations distributed in 27 days
Pennsif's Sustainability Curation Digest for MSP - week ending 3 June 2018
[ header graphic and photographs by @pennsif ]