Being a realist is something that I learned in the most "interesting" and sometimes "unrealistic" situations.

I literally weighed up all the options out there, not to list them here and the negative aspects outweighed the positive ones.
The approach towards running a witness for me was never "to be in the top 20" but to do my best in representing the voices of those on Steem (now on Hive) who were not being noticed, including but not limited to those who voted on my witness campaign.

Since that has now started to change on Hive (as defined clearly in the post) that responsibility which did take up a lot of my time in researching and asking around (learning) is less than ever before & now obsolete for me as a witness.

Then comes the rest of the responsibilities that to me were important in the Governance side of things, which are to say the least a rabbit hole with absolutely no end to it.

With what has been seen in the last HF and the upcoming HF, along with the daily work on Gitlab along with all the transparent, open and public communications going on (in particular via live streaming the core dev meetings) it is clear that anyone like myself can openly contribute to Hive, without having to be a "Witness" or a "Top20 Witness".

Although now as a Hive loyalist and not as a loyalist running a witness, my responsibilities are to contribute to this change in mentality and walk the walk, which gives me more responsibilities and a duty that is in some ways just as important to those of a witness.

We all need to be the change, it starts with each and every one of us on an individual level.

PS. an update on the proposal is coming soon, you may like that one, as it will be an eye opener to many about where and what all the project offers in the long run of things. But I'll leave that for that post, as it has nothing to do with this post.

Cheers.
and thanks for trying to shake hands and let bygones be bygones. Wasn't expecting that from you, but heck, gives me a little more faith in humanity. Worth more than what you may think it is worth.

TY.