I can still remember the day I heard the name Satoshi Nakamoto on the bitcoin forum back in 2009ish. It immediately clicked for me that I was seeing the future in embryonic form, and that this would change everything.

Excited about the possibilities inherent in the blockchain, I endeavored to share the news with those around me, so that they too could participate in this brave new crypto world; and that's when I ran into the first roadblocks amongst the Luddites in my midst.

It turns out that I'm in the center of a "crypto-desert" where people are afraid of change and resistant to try new things. Many of them told me at the time that crypto had to be either a scam, illegal, or both! At the time there was a free Bitcoin faucet, where you could get 5 free Bitcoin, and that's how I picked up my very first tokens.

Try as I might, I couldn't get anyone to see what was clearly unfolding before our very eyes.

Crypto and the blockchain had arrived, and nothing would ever be the same again.

You see, I'm the early adopter in the family. The first to get broadband, a smartphone, tablet, build my own custom PC, and the first (and so far only one), to own crypto. I was mining BTC back when you could still do it on an average desktop computer.

I can still recall having to download the entire ledger (which took forever), then leaving my machine running while I was out, and hoping I'd be lucky enough to win a block award upon my return. This was back when one bitcoin was worth $1 or so (how many of you remember those days?).

Frankly, people here thought I was crazy, and that I'd end up arrested for counterfeiting by generating BTC tokens. When the price jumped up, and then fell right back down; the "See, I told you so!" crowd admonished me for partaking in as they put it; the 21st century equivalent of Seward's Folly.

Despite my entreaties that they should join me, and even after sending them information so that they could perform their own due diligence; it dawned on me that they just didn't "get it" they didn't have " that vision thing" and likely never would.

I knew that history would absolve me, and kept trying to inform them every now and again right up until a few years ago.

But now, I've moved on...

I realized that crypto is intended for people with a particular outlook and a willingness to research and try new things.

There's a certain mindset necessary; a spirit of independence, a sense of ownership, a bit of backbone, and yes: a dash of anarchy.

I think that man of us here on Hive and throughout the blockchain share many (if not all) of those traits. That's why we build when others bail, we buy, when others sell. I coined the term "Boomerang Bloggers" to describe those Hiveians who write a "goodbye" post whenever the $HIVE token experiences an extended downturn in price. Then, months or even years later, they "boomerang" back once the price has risen and hits its stride. That's when we see the "I'm Baaack!" posts, so that they can share in the reward pool, and then the cycle repeats itself all over again.

That's why I have so much respect for those of us with a long-term mindset when it comes to crypto in general, and Hive in particular. It's not those who leave that make an enduring impact, it's those that remain and continue to use their "Diamond Hands" to build and create something wonderful on Hive.

As the Motley Fool says:

pressure creates diamonds, so if you stay strong in the face of pressure, your investments will grow in value.

As some of you may know, I've faced challenges caring for an elderly relative, while beating back the grifters in my family seeking to take financial advantage of her. Many has been the time where I've had to liquidate crypto assets in order to do the right thing for her.

It seems that every time I refill my crypto bag, there's another emergency or big bill that ends up having to be paid by no one but me. Having to part with my $LEO and $DHEDGE tokens was painful, but had to be done as there's no one else in the family here willing to step up and be responsible.

Yet I persist.

Last week on July 25th, I celebrated 6 years on Hive.

I've had to take on other non-Hive writing duties in order to keep things going for her, but I still post on Hive whenever I can.

In short, I'm not going anywhere.

When I write a post, I'm grateful for every upvote. If it even makes a penny, that's one more than I went to bed with. And if it earns nothing at all, at least it may provide value or inspiration to someone who finds it via Google or through my Twitter account, where people engage with content I created months or even years ago.

Even if no one sees my posts on Hive, someone is seeing them somewhere.

When it comes to Hive and crypto, I'm looking 5 and 10 years out; short-term price fluctuations be damned. I'm peering over that far horizon and picturing the possible. Like Moses standing on that mountain top and looking out at the Promised Land. Only I was able to step down off that hill and explore the valley spread out in front of me. To those of you that feel the same, its an honor to take this journey with you.