Some really interesting (and also disturbing) responses to last week's Recurring dreams question! It was interesting that some people have very similar recurring dreams, and others that are completely bizarre and/or quite fightening! There was even one that echoed itself in real life!

Also, some really generous and unexpected support from @blockbrothers, @knircky, @appreciator and @steemitbloggers on the last post means that there was a few extra SBI shares to hand out! A good thing for everyone involved (I hope!).

This week, I was doing a bit of introspection (well, a touch more than usual...) and thinking about where my life is at the moment and all of that stuff.... Anyway, it led me to be thinking about how I seemed to have grown up into an adult without myself fully realising it... Finding myself in situations and life circumstances that I would not have dreamed of even a single decade ago!

My Question

1. How have you managed to surprise yourself and why is it surprising? It could be in a small everyday thing, or something that you've become, or something that you have achieved that you wouldn't have thought was possible! Nothing is too small or irrelevant!

My sample answer

Quite frankly, the most surprising thing to me is the fact that I'm a father and that I'm actually enjoying the experience! Before becoming a parent, I was a bit reticent around children (well, I'm a touch reticent around people, full stop!). I would be completely uncomfortable holding a baby or a small child, and I would shy away from playing with little kids of friends and family. I remember a moment when my wife teased me for holding one of her nephews (who was a tiny baby at the time) like it was a bomb or something... completely uncomfortable!

When my first child was born, I felt like I was a duck to water! There was no awkwardness, and I could just hold her just like I had seen other people hold other babies! The same magic was also repeated for the second child! Now, I'm happy to be chatting and screwing around with them and I find it (mostly...) enjoyable and great fun! That said, I'm still a bit more awkward around other people's kids (like the friends of my daughter, but that could also be a language problem...)... but it is markedly better than before!

So, I'm incredibly surprised to be a father... and to be enjoying it! Weird!

Rules

1. Upvote if you want, it increases the payout and then I can hopefully sponsor more people.
2. Resteem is NOT neccessary, but the more people see this, the more the people will be likely to be sponsored.
3. In the comments, answer as best as you can the questions that are posed in the "My Questions"!
4. I have added a small Steem-Bounty to the post, so that everyone who replies with a valid entry will get something back. If I give your post a small upvote, it is valid (also, subscribe to @dustsweeper for maximum benefit!).
5. I will be sponsoring as many people as this post pays out in liquid SBD/STEEM. Also I will kick in at least the required amount to round up to the full number. Winner is by random generator after a shortlisting of quality comments!

Steem Basic Income

One of the first communities that I came in contact with at the beginning of my time at Steemit was @steembasicincome. As a author starting out on your fresh new Steemit account, Steemit can be a daunting and lonely place to be. OFten, it can feel like you are posting into an abyss with no one listening and with no ability to grow out of the situation. A share of Steem Basic Income gives you a guaranteed vote on one post a day, thus giving you a small but over time cumulative support to your account to help grow you out of your initial wilderness!

With this post, I want to help sponsor people who might not even have the spare 1 STEEM that is required for registration. So, when this post pays out, I will sponsor people depending on the payout of this post. Basically, I will round up the SBD payout from this post and then that will be the number of people I will sponsor. (So, if the payout is 2.3 SBD, I will sponsor 3 people). OF course, this is not simply an altruistic move, as the sponsor of a Steem Basic Income share also gets a share, so it is a great way to help others whilst helping yourself!

Last week's winners

The last post paid out 0.022 SBD and 5.309 STEEM in liquid earnings. So, that would make 6 shares.

The winners by random draw are:

@xcountytravelers

@rufusfirefly

@pocketrocket

@ropaga

@kipswolfe

@greendeliverence