It's hard to believe that it was a whole 365 days ago I joined this weird blockchain thing called Hive under the pseudonym "consciouscat". My partner, Brad, aka 
Once he'd poked around enough to kind of know what he was doing and felt safe enough with what he was seeing he signed me up. I still would have no idea how to create a new account if my life depended on it. Lucky he's the one whose been doing all the onboarding!
I started with a gift from him of US$55 worth of Hive and went from there. Because he was a couple of months ahead of me he was able to tell me some things I should do. Others were self explanatory, like uploading a profile picture, adding a short bio, and the obligatory "clicking around until you know how the user interface works." 馃槀
I can't remember exactly how Brad sold me on the idea of learning how yet another online platform worked. It probably had something to do with "being paid to write". And since writing is something I can do easily (as she listens to the sound of her own quick taps on the keyboard) that bit was an easy sell. But "keys" and converting between different crypto currencies and... well, that all seemed super foreign to me.
I'd like to say that a year later I'm a pro, but I'm not. I'm just slightly less clueless.
There are things that I've learned in the last 12 months that I could have probably expected to have learned. Things like how to join and engage with different communities and how to write blog posts in the manner that's expected on this platform seemed like things I could pick up quite easily and reasonably.
But there are things I never expected to learn like how damn rich I am living in Australia compared to much of the world, even though my bank accounts disagree.
And there are things that have delighted me that I never expected to experience on here, like connecting with like-minded, like-hearted people in countries I've never been to. Like caring about the progress and growth of perfect strangers in countries I may never feel safe enough to visit.
These last two paragraphs may make me look like I'm some rich, naive, untravelled (not a word, but you get what I mean) woman who cares about no-one. In fact, the opposite is true. In my country, I'm far from rich, I'm well travelled, well educated, have lived a life with so many varied experiences and actually care deeply about human beings as a rule.
Yet, there's something about this platform that has allowed me to learn so much more about the world and about other people, to connect with so many more people from other parts of the world in a way that I've never been able to do in my 12+ years on other social media platforms.
I am humbled and I am grateful.
It is fair to say, as I look back on my first year on Hive, that this space and all of you on it have made me a better, wiser, kinder woman. And while the few hundred dollars I've made over the year is nice, the human experience of Hive is worth far more to me.
Now, this post is suppose to have two parts: looking back, to then look forward. So let's do the latter now based on the question of the week from the wonderful Ladies of Hive community I've so come to appreciate.
The question was this:
We are already in September and soon it will be the last quarter of the year. Do you have a specific goal you want to achieve by the end of the year? Tell us about it and what you are doing or will do to achieve it.
In short, I plan to do more of the same:
That might not be a goal, per se, but I'm more of a journey and process gal than a destination gal. Get me? 馃槈
If you identify as a lady and would like to participate in this week's contest question (there's always two options, in case you don't like this one), please know the contest ends each Saturday at 11:59 PM (23:59) UTC. Go here for the contest details.
All photos by my darling partner in Hive and in life,
