How has Steem impacted my life? That is a long story.

Just a coincidence to see several posts having the same name “How has Steem impacted my life?”, and it’s all linked to the original post of @theycallmedan. All of a sudden, I also want to share my life-changing story started with Steemit.

I came in early time of Steemit when most people were yet to come. And now, when most people start to leave the place that they consider as a sinking ship, I still choose to stay here and show my support for the community. Because I know, Steemit gave me things that I’m always grateful for and I owe it my loyalty.

Here is my own “How has Steem impacted my life?”

The first meetup of steemians organized by me

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I had never imagined my life could turn to be in this way

September 2017

The time I signed up for Steemit was also the time I started learning English. My friend told me to use Steemit to practice English writing and if I was lucky, I could earn some money, he said. I took it as a joke, but I still had a try, though. Until now, registering an account with the name @hanggggbeeee is still my greatest regret ever. In that time, I just made it up since every name I liked was taken already, and I thought “ok whatever, take a name randomly then change later, what is the big deal”. Yes. I shouldn’t have taken Steemit as Facebook. Thanks to the amazing blockchain, now it will be with me for the rest of my life. xD

I had no idea of cryptocurrency back then, had no clue how the hell it’s even possible to earn money with my bullshit writing, what wallet was, and how these STEEM, SBD could buy me stuffs, how those things as upvote, curation, payout worked, etc. Steemit was the whole new thing for me and even today, after more than two years of being a steemian, I haven’t done learning about it yet.

I continued a series of $0 payout posts for few months afterward. Sometimes I made it up to $0.5 and it definitely made my day. Such a big achievement. I didn’t care about money at first, that is why I didn’t stop. Somehow, I became kind of addicted and felt so much satisfied to see how my English improved day by day with Steemit.

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Then the game-changing time had come

I’m sure that most people here still remember the time of late 2017 - when the value of Steemit was at its peak. People started rushing over, tried to take a spot here on Steemit to get reward. I was so lucky to be supported by the community, the nice whales and dolphins. Just by posting daily, I had earned an amount of income that I had never thought I could.

And then, my life-changing journey actually began at this moment. From a girl who didn’t even know what to do with her life, to a girl who had courage to dream of the bigger world. I felt like over 24 years of existence, I had done nothing but questioning myself, and then Steemit had just given me a chance to actually do something for my life. I only live once and Steemit has made it well worth to remember.

Growing up in a rural town in central of Vietnam, I barely knew what was going on in the world out there. Steemit gave me opportunities to have so many friends from all over the world, for me to realize that how poor I was, not in term of money but poor vision, poor knowledge, poor experience.
I wasn’t supposed to live such a boring life.
With Steemit, I did believe that I could do better.
I started preparing for my biggest plan ever: travel South America.

At the age of 24, I believe that there are a lot of people like me struggling with too many choices. By taking a long trip away, beyond the comfort zone, hopefully, I will find myself somewhere and realize clearly without any doubt about the things I desire to do, the life I'd love to live.
--My diary, March 08, 2018. Lima, Peru--

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I made it to Machu Picchu

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A halfway around planet journey needed more than just an insane decision. That’s the demands of well planning and daring to sacrifice somethings. I stopped following and building my own career. I gave up buying all things, which I had been running after for a long time, to balance my limited budget. I sacrificed some relationships and attachments which were preventing me from travelling. I was prepared for anything to happen and willing to start all over again.

Spend more than two months travelling around, the trip was made with a lot of “the first time”. It could be either a thoughtless trip or a life-changing one. I wasn’t sure, but one thing I did know clearly was that I became a totally different person afterward, I had my mind opened and so much self-confidence. It all started with Steemit.





A lot more places and friends

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People keep wondering what the meaning of going far away is. With every such a long trip, we travel all the way to distant lands and one more time we come all the way home. For what? In the end, the whole point isn't for setting foot in strange countries, getting to know exotic cultures, but for comprehending our ability, finding out ourselves and bringing new eyes with extra colors.
Wouldn't most of us be like this, we travel, spend a night in the strange place then we wake up and see ourselves suddenly be more mature?
--My diary in Cusco, March 2018--

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I always think that I’m one of the most successful steemians

Started with an #introduceyourself post with 70% made by google translation, to a post that’s rewarded by @curie and other curators for high-quality content. I define it success as my intended purpose of the whole Steemit things was purely for my English improvement.
The first post ever: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@hanggggbeeee/hello-steemit-i-am-hang-from-vietnam
The curie-upvoted one: https://steemit.com/travelfeed/@hanggggbeeee/chinchero-peru-the-first-magnificent-stop-on-the-way-heading-to-sacred-valley

I came in early time of Steemit when most people were yet to come. And now, when most people start to leave the place that they consider as a sinking ship, I still choose to stay here and show my support for the community. Because I know, Steemit gave me things that I’m always grateful for and I owe it my loyalty.

It is not as crowded as before, but I kind of enjoy it. Feel like to be back to September 2017. Steemit for me is not something that I’m forced to do but I actually love posting my things here and seeing people recognize my work. For a platform that is well worth spending time like Steemit, it definitely deserves better. I am truly a believer who puts all faith in the bright future of Steemit.

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Thank @theycallmedan’s initiatives for giving me a chance to look back my whole story with Steemit, to realize how my life, myself have changed, to appreciate the way I have been impacted by Steemit. I have come a long way and still have a long way to go more with this amazing platform.

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Writing down the whole things like this really reminds me of the movie “Me before you”. If I could name a title for my story here, it’s probably close to “Me before Steemit”.