I joined the steemit community just a couple days ago, due in large part to wanting to connect with my sister and brother-in-law ( @allforthegood and @bluerthangreen respectively) and follow what adventures they are having in life and living down in the homesteading mecca of Arkansas, a long way from where I currently am in central Wisconsin.

I saw some of their success in earning steem/sbd/steempower from some very informative and well-written stories from both of them.

From that, I saw parts of their life that I wouldn’t have been aware of otherwise, both successes and failures. I saw their wallets, and their earnings, and felt like I was missing out.

I felt jealous. I felt ignorant.

https://steemitimages.com/DQmcEaZZcpoQooW7sPiAFdPXUsP2WB3Txr6xHHVjTHRNEJ4/envy.jpg

I was envious of the community they are fostering online for themselves, and also locally (physically in real life) with their neighbors and like-minded individuals, due in large part to their investment in steemit.com.

So, burning some of that ignorance and jealousy as fuel, I did some research, validated the legitimacy of the steem platform, and started my own account.

Since we all want to succeed, and the best yardstick for success is money (either BTC, USD, or Steem ;), I asked myself, what do you want from me? What does Steem want from me in order for me to be successful?

Should I have written my introduction as a dating profile (‘this is me, love me, please’), should I have written it as an autobiography (‘in the beginning, I was born’), or should it be more like I’m trying to be someone else (‘I’m a cool dude, oh look how cool I am’).

I was afraid that I had nothing to offer, nothing to say, and nothing of value to give. That alone would be a fearful discovery.

What does Steem want from me?

We all get different things out of a platform like this. It helps us discover our own voice and give us reason to say the things we’re thinking and try new thoughts, and to entertain the thoughts and ideas of others. The dangling carrot of a few bucks in exchange for our own private research and voyage of self-discovery is just icing on the cake.

The alternative, using venues like Facebook or Reddit or other platforms, is to plant your seeds on rocky ground (to loosely paraphrase Matthew 13) . You blast out some pithy statement, photo, or observation, and measure your success in ‘likes’ and ‘friend requests’. Great for mild family and friend communication, but less successful in true sharing of ideas, and far less profitable.

https://steemitimages.com/DQmY358NWqtQSihbMwWWvHhLzewQvgwTcobknJUq6RpEJxf/rocky-soil.jpg

What does Steem want from me?

After a bit more thought, I realized that is the wrong question.

What do I want from me?

That’s the real question. Each of are triggered by an external something, and our response to that pushes us either towards success, or towards anger, or towards fear. It’s up to each individual to choose how they will use these triggers, and what rewards they will reap from it, if any.

https://steemitimages.com/DQmVAFEf2tMHdrxvtFZiEWdxrFDLbAW7KdtPFj5dzbPVMUH/gun-trigger.jpg

If steemit is that trigger, then I am the finger.

So, I am choosing to use this platform to describe myself and firm up my own perceptions of what I know, what I can do, and what I want to do. I will use my steemit.com posts as a means to show others what I know, and perhaps encourage or intrigue or inform them as well. I will use steemit.com as an excuse to force myself to try things I can all too easily talk myself out of if it’s just me in my own head saying the words.

And if I earn a few steem bucks doing it, that’s ok too.