Every coin has 2 sides. But a coin is a coin. It has the same value no matter which side you are looking at.

![A_blank_black_picture.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmYiep1imq1Jb8KhtysTJn8DiC9zhpysydJJTkwNWjb2Th/A_blank_black_picture.jpg) *So here is my story, a story of a skater who joined Steem in January 2018 and never thought he could make it this far.*

My First Steps On Steem

First of all, big ups to @Theycallmedan for creating the #gratitudechallenge. Through this challenge I realized that many people have completely changed their life just by using our blockchain, Steem. My case was slightly different though. When I first joined Steem I never thought that I could actually make a living from posting skate videos. We skaters love filming tricks and uploading them on various platforms. If you check out the #skateboarding tag on IG you'll see that thousands of skate videos and photos are being uploaded every minute. I was doing the same until I started my journey here. I accidentaly found out about Steem in **January 2018**, when the bulls were hitting our doors. I had invested some money in crypto back then, mostly in ETH and as I was looking for coins at Coinmarketcap I saw Steem. I love checking out coins and reading about them. After some research I decided to jump on board. I remember posting my very first video on Dtube and recieving a lot of love from the community,especially from the OG Skaters in here like @web-gnar , @Nicolcron , @Stickchumpion , @Mikesalvi and many more. @Steemskate was already a thing back then with @web-gnar in charge doing weekly or bi-weekly skate contests and throwing big fat upvotes to everyone of us. I remeber @web-gnar having 1000 SP and casting a vote over $0.15 when Steem price was over $6. All this continued support from the skate community hyped me up to learn how to film/edit and learn how to speak and write proper English. In the following months, I never missed a single @Steemskate contest nor a single @Steemskate post. I remember @Nicolcron uploading the very first #Steemskate Vlog and getting @dtube 's HUGE upvote at that time. A whole new world opened for me that day. I have been posting skate vlogs ever since.

Why am I telling you all this?

This is the #gratitudechallenge and I wanted to shout a HUGE THANK YOU to every OG skater (and not only) who supported me back in the day and still continue to support me. Yo @Nicolcron, check out this printscreen telling me congrats for achieving rep 60. Hehe. Who would have thought I'd reach 67 reputation 8 months later! ![67428020_721006328320234_4257221877862236160_n.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQM9uXUtqRDuhGyNpaYLfqCB9PgCdkK84fefqtPSQHxg6/67428020_721006328320234_4257221877862236160_n.png)

The Next few Months...

Some months after my Steem journey started I had a chat with #steemskate boss @Web-gnar. He was too busy with his life and didn't have a lot of time to start contests, curate etc. Web is such a cool guy. I asked him if I could create the @steemskate account and without hesitation he agreed. Even though he couldn't post in a daily basis the last year he wanted to see @steemskate growing.It's his baby after all. That's what happened. I created the official @steemskate account and started some new contests, giveaways and curating/resteeming every skate content I could find on Steem. By the way @web-gnar is back and stronger than ever.Just check out his latest #Steemskate post. He is a beast : - https://steemit.com/dtube/@web-gnar/35jcialbxbq Up until now, a lot of skaters joined the platform with some of the being HUGE names on the skate industry (Like @skateshoeguru and @baystreetboards). I got to meet skaters from all over the world, chat with them and open my mind. I even met @Stickchumpion 3 months ago at Barcelona. He flew all the way from London to Barca just to hang out and skate.

I would never get to know this dude if it wasn't for Steem.

Dude is 40 and still rippin like a teenager. Much love bro. ![99pyU5Ga1kwqSXWA2evTexn6YzPHotJF8R85JZsErvtTWY37XW4x7z7MoaMWrKcADLr1BUgrgEtnAX7YmBo9Nj6GzdgTHrseomiTPNWafxqNuGEtYX4ZcLMi4tPNXLdHiD.gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWYLwSoQKvL7kfdHcVKEsKPSnbgJ1meUxHdsyo6TdXQLk/99pyU5Ga1kwqSXWA2evTexn6YzPHotJF8R85JZsErvtTWY37XW4x7z7MoaMWrKcADLr1BUgrgEtnAX7YmBo9Nj6GzdgTHrseomiTPNWafxqNuGEtYX4ZcLMi4tPNXLdHiD.gif)

What About Now

As for now, 4 months ago I decided to quit my daily job and walk my own path. This was the best decision I ever took. As a full-time Steemian I am feeling more happy, creative and energetic than ever. I have finally time to do all those things I wanted without having any boss above my head yelling me and speaking to me like I am his property.**FUCK YOU.** As I mentioned at my post, a coin has 2 sides. Sometimes my Steem income isn't enough for me to pay my rent and my monthly expenses but I don't care. As long as I have my mental health and the time to do whatever I want to do the time I want to do it I don't mind having less money in my pocket. Besides, we only have one life so we better have as much fun as we can.

Thank You Steem

Closing this vlog, I want to thank Steem and it's people for accepting me as I am (never tried to hide anything in this platform), for leading me towards financial freedom, for meeting new people from all over the world, for being able to help other in need with just a click, for teaching me how to speak and write English, for helping me boost my confidence and last but not least for my future. Cause if it wasn't for Steem, I could never dream the way I dream now.

#STEEMSKATE FOR LIFE

![P1nnPUkSmoNUKb4TPeqQKoypeKJsLYTRBqQF72wfANTunXZ1b76cz3M1fqUPbkt2eoroy7SK4yHFZ6i2P31pX3BuSvikPE2gw62iyT6q8Ntow9rzsPxgEjcra4Y77nUnH2qvhye9LBp5Js52HxiaAgZZD2FNpdNYXQkeYdY1ASxkiDvpULPnbnRhaoSzpq1u4mfZ8idAQeM3Z5vKLA28rMiDY.gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXQ7DhX5oYhW8yg6SWPdkXJiSDWQ8LYhEaANWuuWfesAD/P1nnPUkSmoNUKb4TPeqQKoypeKJsLYTRBqQF72wfANTunXZ1b76cz3M1fqUPbkt2eoroy7SK4yHFZ6i2P31pX3BuSvikPE2gw62iyT6q8Ntow9rzsPxgEjcra4Y77nUnH2qvhye9LBp5Js52HxiaAgZZD2FNpdNYXQkeYdY1ASxkiDvpULPnbnRhaoSzpq1u4mfZ8idAQeM3Z5vKLA28rMiDY.gif)