After my attempt to writing fiction story I am giving a shot at writing future. My fiction story was not so good but not bad either. I'm not saying I will give up on it but will take a break. I'm going to try writing out my future imagination. Fiction too needed imagination but it was not related to real life whereas what I'm trying to write today has some correlation to my present life.
Before we get into more details, by no ways I'm trying to be the great Christopher Nolon. I will be writing about a future memory. That is, I will be writing about a future incidence as a memory. Again that is, I am assuming myself to be in June 2023 writing about a memory in June 2020.
Here we go into June 2023.
Its my birthday today and tell me who isn't excited about birthdays. Birthdays are full of fun, isn't it ?
Well let me tell you that back until 2020 I was not so excited about my birthdays. I used to spend the day like yet another day. The only difference was that I used to get calls from many enthusiastic relatives wishing me a happy day. I used to just spend a lazy day at home, willing to find some time alone. Unlike my wife @sayalijain, I never liked planning my birthday to make it special. But what was it which brought a drastic change like this.
I was working in a software company located in Pune. I was just promoted to be a Technical Architect in April 2020. It was a special moment for me. It was a moment to celebrate, but again I had something else cooking in my mind. Working for a well known software company of 2000+ employees, being promoted to a designation equivalent to a project manager, being paid a good salary. What else could I expect ? I had all the factors which looked like success to the outside world. But was it really success ? Someone may still call it success but was I happy ?
The Marvels super hero Spiderman says it pretty often that 'With great power comes great responsibilities'. No one is an exception to that statement. Though I had great power in my organization, I was leading a team of 50 odd individuals, all that came with all big responsibilities. Responsibility of delivering work, responsibility of maintaining quality, responsibility of getting work done from others and even having the courage to take a hit at your reputation because your team did not perform well. When you are a leader, your individual contribution takes a back seat and your team's contribution is all that matters. With the pros of salary, designation and power there are a lot of cons which follow.
The pressure of delivery, the stress of meeting timelines, the urge of quality, the long working hours covering for the weak ones, the sacrificed weekends and what not. And at the end you still cannot keep everyone happy. Its well said that 'If you want to keep everyone happy, don't be a leader, better sell candies or ice-cream.'
The company pays you the salary and will definitely expect deliverable out of you in return. After all, they are there to make money and not for charity. But is the salary worth all what you go through.
You miss spending time with your loved ones, you miss those holidays with your friends, you cant spend enough time with your parents who are getting old neither can you have memories of your children growing into an individual. We are not even talking about your personal health and interests yet. You are gaining weight sitting in the office eating junk food and you have given up your hobby of playing guitar long back. You very well realize that such a stressful life often leads to a bed ridden old age or even early deaths. But the train of inflation is running equally fast as to your salary hike.
Most of the individuals around me had similar thoughts. We often discussed this over our tea breaks or at lunch tables. But no one had the courage to break through the cycle.
But I had decided and resigned from my post of Technical Architect in April 2020. My decision was welcomed by a few but criticized by most. Not because I had planned to live a stress free life but because they felt it was a stupid decision. I had risked my daily bread and butter on a cryptocurrency based platform called Steemit. It was just few days back when the Reserve Bank of India had lifted its ban on crypto currencies and had welcomed it with open arms. But they were not popular enough to rely on them for your daily needs. Steem then was priced at $45 per Steem token and I just had around 1300 Steem power under my account.
Here is a picture of me celebrating my last outing with my team members.
14th June 2020 was my last working day at my company and ever since, I have been full time dedicated to Steemit. I wrote blogs about philosophy, India, cryptocurrency, Steemit, technology, travel and what not. My blogs hardly made $30 then. But I never gave up. I studied technologies related to Steemit block chain and even hosted infrastructure to support the block chain. Cryptos had hiccups w.r.t. ban throughout 2020 but they never ever looked back since the technology giant Tesla(lead by Elon Musk) took the lead to develop the solar power mined crypto currency named SoloCoin. It was a game changer. It was launched at a cheap price of mere $30 per Solocoin during its ICO phase.
History is so unbelievable right ? Can we imagine Steem at $45 a token today ? Or an even bigger surprise, Solocoin at $30 a coin. Its like 10 times cheaper Steem and 300 times cheaper Solocoin. For your information, Solocoin is priced at $9213 per coin and Steem at $462 a token today.
That (bold) decision back in 2020 changed my life. I am happier and richer too. Guys who were promoted as Technical Architects with me are just senior technical architects today. With a small raise in the salary they have the regular huge raise in the responsibilities. LMAO. I'm helping some of the new joiners from my past company grow here on Steemit.
Also do participate in my Birthday contest where the one who made the boldest decision in life will get an up-vote which is worth buying an i-Phone XV.
Here is a snapshot of my Steemit account profile then and now.
Fun fact for the day:(This time from the past).
Did you know that Facebook was the leading social media platform back in 2020. Haha. Though it is only used by the stalkers and the advertisers today, it was once the most lit platf orm across the world. In fact most of our witnesses used Facebook and Twitter back then to spread awareness about Steemit block chain.
Can you imagine !!
Wake up, wake up, wake up !! Reality check.
We are still in 2018 and Steem is lingering around a value as low as $3 per token. Cryptocurrencies are going to be kinda banned in India from 5th July 2018 and unfortunately Facebook is still the most lit social media platform across the world. I am a poor minnow with less than 100 SP and still working with a software company as an Associate Technical Architect sacrificing my personal life for the much needed money.
I am writing this post as a participation to a contest hosted by @anibas. Hope I get enough attention and a bigger hope is having my future imagination turn into reality.
Meanwhile, here is some music for positive energy. It worked well for me.
