Tomorrow will mark a solid six years of blogging on the blockchain. The world (and I) have changed so much in that relatively short span of time.
Without wasting too much time on the backstory, I had gotten pretty used to walking a tightrope. By 2016 I had been writing for over twenty years and working my cubicle job to pay the bills. My dream was always to travel the world but there was never enough money left over at the end of the month. I was also still in the process of rebuilding my confidence after a devastatingly stressful job I worked from 2009 to 2014 that robbed me of nearly all my waking hours and extinguished most of my hope. I was getting to the point where I found myself frequently thinking this is going to be my life, I was almost ready to settle. I feared my best days were already behind me.
“The only real prison is fear and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.” ~Aung San Suu Kyi
I had read James Altucher’s book Choose Yourself in 2015 and connected with it in such a way that it was as though it set me on fire. I credit that book with reframing my entire mindset and preparing me for the success that was to come. Everything started to change for me after I read it and began applying the principles James taught in the book to my life.
I don’t know if you all felt it too but back in 2016 there was such tremendous energy in the world. The optimism was palpable. Another follower of James’ social media page dropped a link to this new social media site that paid you to blog. After a few password issues I wrote my first post on July 5th, 2016. It was a roller coaster at first. I wasn’t getting engagement at all for the first few weeks but then one Saturday morning I woke up to discover I had made the equivalent of three days worth of pay of THIS POST. Then it happened again a few days later with a second post.
“May we think of freedom as not the right to do as we please, but as an opportunity to do what is right.” ~ Peter Marshall
The rest of the summer of 2016 was a complete blur. Reader engagement just exploded from there. I went on to live out what was the best year of my life and I will always be exceedingly grateful for every bit of it. Finding this place and experiencing that success was the culmination of every professional aspiration that I could imagine. Making good friends with people from all over the world has always been the icing on the cake.
I always get sentimental in the days leading up to the fifth of July. Hive literally opened the door to freedom for me that’s why I’ll always consider July 5th my personal Independence Day.
“In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
I don’t say this to brag but to remind us of something. Let my experience serve as an example of how this platform has the potential to change lives. Despite how easy it might be for us to forget, let us never lose sight of how much power Hive has.
Just like this crazy world we all live in, Hive is constantly evolving. I've seen some great things happening here lately. Faces have come and gone. The platform is almost indistinguishable from the place it was when I began my journey six years ago and it'll be different a year from now. In every given moment it's up to each us to figure out how use to use this platform to its greatest potential.
So I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the support you’ve shown me all these years. None of us know what the future holds but one thing is for certain, you have made this writer’s dreams come true, seriously every single one.
Poetry should move us, it should change us, it should glitch our brains, shift our moods to another frequency. Poetry should evoke feelings of melancholy, whimsy, it should remind us what it feels like to be in love, or cause us to think about something in a completely different way. I view poetry, and all art really, as a temporary and fragile bridge between our world and a more pure and refined one. This is a world we could bring into creation if enough of us believed in it. This book is ephemera, destined to end up forgotten, lingering on some dusty shelf or tucked away in a dark attic. Yet the words, they will live on in memory. I hope these words become a part of you, bubble up into your memory when you least expect them to and make you feel a little more alive.
Pick up a copy of Ephemera today on Amazon.
Most of us have experienced a moment of perfect peace at least once in our lives. In these moments we lose ourselves and feel connected to everything. I call these mindful moments. Words can’t describe how complete they make us feel.
These moments are usually fragile, evaporating in seconds. What if there was a way to train your mind to experience more of them? It’s deceptively easy and requires nothing more than a subtle shift in mindset. My new book, Mindful Moments, will teach you to be much more content despite the chaos and imperfect circumstances continuing to unfold around you. Upgrade your life experience today for only $15.99 on Amazon.com.
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