Since joining Hive in mid-September last year it's been an absolute whirlwind of learning, growing, connecting and learning some more.
I've learned about (some of) the differences between social media on Web 2.0 vs. Hive's Web 3.0. I've learned more about cryptocurrency than I ever dreamed of (or than my former self would have even wanted to 😂). I've learned some clever techy things that I've never done in 10 years of blogging on other platforms. And I've learned a heap of jargon for weird things that would make no sense to anyone outside this environment, including various types of animals that live in the water that we are striving to be like. 🐟🐬🐋
Speaking of which, five days ago I became a Minnow 🙌🙌🙌
If you're a newbie to the Hive Blockchain you might be asking yourself: "What's a Minnow?"
While in the outside world it's this inside the Hive ecosystem it a level of achievement for your activity here on Hive. While I still don't know exactly what drives up that rather large number under the Minnow symbol 👇 I imagine it does have something to do with the activities listed on the right side of this image.
I'm proud of achieving Minnow status in just under 7 months on Hive. I know I've been reasonably consistent in writing posts. I've prioritised writing decent content that is interesting, engaging and often enough, educational.
I've also made a point of upvoting decent content, and commenting on other people's posts. While this has definitely helped my progress on Hive, it's done something else that's probably even more important: I've built genuine connections and made friends. And while the positive feedback loop is helpful--more friends equals more people who want to read my content-- that has been an unexpected and unintended bonus. I engage and connect because I enjoy engaging and connecting. Plus, I learn so very much from the people I've made a point of conversing with.
But, back to my main point: I was celebrating.
I'm proud. I'm happy. And these days I no longer shy away from my achievements; I own them.
But I know it wasn't all my own doing; far from it.
This is a community, or rather an ecosystem filled with many smaller communities. And to brag as if I did this all on my own would be arrogant. There are many people I'd like to thank before I wrap this post up with a mini philosophy lesson.
Firstly, my partner Brad, aka @new.things. I wouldn't be on here at all unless he had dragged my arse over here set up my account and told me how to do this new Hive thing. That, and his enthusiasm and commitment to the platform means that every day he's sitting in our lounge room writing posts on Hive. It's kind of hard to ignore that so I end up on Hive too 😉
And there where do I go from there? There are so many wonderful people (and accounts) who have played a large or small role in my growth on here. Let me list a few, in no particular order:
@hivebuzz - for notifying me of my progress, regularly and alerting me to the fact that I'm a Minnow (something I think is also a HiveBuzz/Archange creation) 😃
@traciyork - for the monthly Hive Power Up Day awesomeness and all the various things you've done in and around that for me 😘
@fionasfavourites - for the delegations early on and the encouragement ever since 😊
@forykw - for a lovely long delegation over time and tokens on a regular basis! 🙂
@steevc - for his encouragement and the clever idea of the tenkminnows project. This win is your win too, my running friend 😄
To every person who ever upvoted, commented, reblogged or curated any of my posts - thank you 😎
To every person who somehow likes or loves my way of expressing myself and does the abovementioned things regularly - Thank you 🙏 I feel like a lucky woman.
To every community moderator/admin who has ever chosen my post as a winner or runner up in a contest they were running - thank you! Every single bit helps and I'm always glad when I can write something that really lands for other people. 🙂
I'm sure there are people I've forgotten. If you've ever answered one of my questions about how to do something on here, or you've written a post that teaches me and others how to do useful things on Hive then muchas gracias 😁
That's a lot of thank yous. So thank you for reading your way through them 😅 But I do think that thank yous are important. Really important. Just like celebrating.
Properly celebrating our achievements is something that many of us (especially in western cultures) have a tendency to fly by these days. It's so easy to get caught up in achieving that we forget to pause. We forget to look at how far we've already come. We forget to acknowledge ourselves and all our growth, as well as the people who helped us get there.
And if we're not careful we'll race and race and do and do and achieve and achieve until we die.
If we really want to enjoy life we have to remember to pause and look around and really soak up all the awesomeness we've created. And once we've breathed it in and had some time to truly realise how far we've come and integrate what we've learned then and only then can we truly step forward into whatever comes next.
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Want to check your status on Hive? Go to https://hivebuzz.me/ and scroll to the bottom and put your username (including the "@" symbol into the field at the bottom).
Did I tag you and you'd really prefer not to be tagged? Please feel totally free to tell me and I'll untag you.
And if you've been a Minnow for a while (or you're a Dolphin, an Orca, or a Whale) what advice would you give this newbie Minnow to make the next big chunk of time on Hive even more rewarding (in all senses of the word) than the first big chunk?