I've spent the last four years with you all, starting off my adventure on this blockchain as a depressed shut-in with a passion for both writing and the world of cinema. I'd often find myself throwing out 3 - 4 film reviews and opinion posts daily, constantly interacting and wishing I could do more on this platform that offered such incredible potential in making significant impacts on the lives of those who stumble across it. I always felt I had something to say, something to teach or something to learn, and while the latter I believe is still quite present, I feel I don't have a whole lot to say anymore.
There was a time, prior to the implementation of Communities, in which the #film and #movies tags were a wasteland. A place of lost motivation and disinterest. At its worst, the two were lucky to see a handful of posts per week, and people were dropping the platform at a pretty depressing rate. Though, this was undoubtedly a result of the bear market, but curation was also at its worst.
Thanks to the generosity of a particular user (I won't refer to them by name or tag them, because I truly do not want them to feel any guilt reading this), I was incredibly lucky to be given a large delegation in hopes of improving interaction and curation of film related posts. It was my job to revive it and get content shared and rewarded. For the past few years, I've attempted to do just that daily. While the bear market came and went, and another bull market appeared, and the blockchains forked and the drama ensued as always, people came and went, features and discussions released, so much has changed.
It's utterly astonishing to see how far the Community has managed to come. At the time of writing, it's at a total count of 1,395 subscribers and ready to distribute an incredible total of $702 to users across the world. I can't begin to fathom just how much money has been distributed and made a difference to those who both deserve and need it over the last few years, but I'd love to believe that it stemmed from a collaboration of two complete strangers that just wanted to do better for others. I think this event has displayed the true potential of decentralised platforms in which trust and a mutual goal can lead to change.
My own life throughout the years with this delegation has been quite something. I've gone through a ridiculous amount of change since I started off here as someone that never went outside and struggled to talk to others. But I always placed the understanding that I had a duty to pursue online at the forefront of it all. The delegation became something of an obligation in my own mind: something I had to actively utilise to what I believed was its full potential. Whether I've failed or succeeded isn't up to me, but again, I'd like to believe that I've managed to contribute to this space in a meaningful manner.
I stopped posting a lot of opinion related posts a while back because I was tired. I lost a lot of faith in the future of this platform, for numerous reasons: the greed of others and inaction of the technology within our hands. I won't go into it here, but I know this feeling is mirrored elsewhere in others. I've wanted to do more, and I've considered doing a lot more. Recently, I even considered running for Witness to promote the changes I wanted to see and aim for a better future not just for the platform, but the futures of those using it.
So many times I've felt tired. Wanting to take a break but feeling immense guilt. Even during days where I travelled and worked from 5AM to 11:30PM multiple days in a row, I'd get into the hotel room and login via my phone to get some curation in before crashing. I didn't want people to miss out. Throughout the years I've also attempted to offer my own stake to others via delegations to encourage the same type of interaction and generosity I was receiving. And again, I really hope it all made a difference to someone.
I have to admit, I'm not sure how I feel about this end to a little era. On one hand I'm sad that it has ended, but on another I feel as if a large amount of weight has been lifted from me. I feel as if I'm finally capable of relaxing and taking a break, and that's what I think I'll do. Having interacted on here daily, throughout each day, it's going to be a bit weird not having that thought in the back of my mind that I need to check things and curate. I don't really know how long this break of mine will even last. I don't even think I'm capable of leaving this place for good. Maybe I'll have the motivation to actively post again and write about anything, maybe I'll still want to run for Witness, and perhaps maybe I'll clench my teeth together and purchase a big stack of Hive knowing it'll be frozen for years and most likely lose its value during bear and bull markets. Only one thing I'm certain of, is that I want to relax a bit. And now my upvote value is back to a speck of dust, I can finally do so free of guilt.
The Movies & TV Shows Community isn't going to die. I won't allow that to happen, no matter the eventual outcome regarding my activity. The current Mods know exactly what to do and how, and I still have the icon and banner coming from our good friend 
If I curated your content before, I'm sorry I can no longer do so, and I hope it continues to be recognised and rewarded.
And if there's anything I'd want the users of Hive to learn from, it's the potential in aligning your minds with each other and placing the importance of community itself over personal profit. By doing so, the rest will follow.
