Happy Tuesday!
I'm going to take a break from my mountain post again for this post, I wasn't really going to participate, why? I dunno...lack of time for a bit and I'm trying to focus on getting ALL of my material out....On second thought...that prize pool does seem pretty sweet. Alright I'm a little late to the party for the 1000 post celebration but regardless, A HUGE CONGRATS to the busy team at #haveyoubeenhere for over 3 long years searching, curating and elevating the community you have built around yourselves. I may or may not be late to the party for the contest with my indecision and procrastination but it doesn't matter because no matter what, they are one of the best communities on Hive and mean a great deal to me and my journey here and I think they should know that. The pictures are older photos taken during my trail exploring posted to the map over the years.
@pinmapple/2000-hive-contest-to-celebrate-reaching-1000-digests
How did it all start? I remember a time when I was starting out and they were starting out, at the time it was @martibis and @choogirl, who both stopped by one of my post within an hour of each other about this steemitworldmap thing that was pretty mind boggling idea to me but I checked it out anyway, figured it must be a thing then. I don't know how many posts there were but not very many! I saw an opportunity, I get to be the first plant my flags all over a map of western Canada! I quickly took to the idea and started pinning my posts.
Little did I know it would turn out to be one of the most popular projects that stood the test of time and continued growing regardless of the crypto hiccups of the last couple of years. Soon after their launch, they grew so quickly new curators were added to the team, @livinguktaiwan, @lizanomadsoul and @itchyfeetdonica.
Over time, that map started to fill up with little pins all over the world that you now see today, yet western Canada remained mostly mine...MOUAHAHA Excellent! lol , I feel like an early explorer. To be honest tho, many contributed to where I am today on the platform so I can't say it's all them or mostly them but A LOT of that is due to the #haveyoubeenhere community and the hardworking team of curators always on the lookout for the hidden gems of the world to promote in their publications helping content discovery and the dedicated readers and writers that love to explore.
I like the aspects of seeing my own travel progress as well on the map...I looked at it the other day, I get around a bit keeping in mind a lot of the km done are on foot bits and pieces at a time, keeping track of what I see or feel, learn whatever the case maybe. As you get older and go on many hikes, some details start to blend in and forget some, I really don't want to forget any details of any of my trips, ever. In Addition, when I was looking for trail info in the Rockies, much of what I found was just sales pitch after sales pitch for guided tour here and there and everywhere.
The best tool I found was blogs structured like mine or others pinned to the map who went into details about their experience both written and visually. Too bad they don't know about Hive, they are missing out but everyone is so stubborn about taking the crypto plunge. I came to realize the likelier I was to go on a trail if I had an idea what to expect and what's in the pot waiting at the end of the rainbow. I don't want to hike 20 km to nowhere for no reason! In case you ever wondered why I structure my posts the way I do, that's my secret. I produce the information I was looking for but struggle to find so maybe it can help someone else decide and not miss out on great features.
Secondary to that, I meet a lot of people thru work and other social media pages I participate in and it's generally quickly known I'm a hiker/photographer as I encounter old friends and they enquire, others get curious, many have questions about the locations of my photography, how to get there so on, it saves me from having to repeat myself and I just send links and bam, a quick-ish rundown at the click of a mouse with exact gps location pinned to a map. What a freaking concept! Genius. Seriously. I get many comment on how professional it looks (that's more thanks to the platform over all), I don't seek validation in life but it still makes me all warm and fuzzy inside to hear that.
I used to think I was kinda boring but writing and pining my posts and looking back reminds me of how many unique experiences I get that so many can only dream of and it has taught me to be thankful for the little things in life like our landscape and the eco systems within. Now with this project we get to share our experiences as we grow, as we explore and learn to be proud of our culture or interests. As mundane as something might be to us, could be the ultimate experience one can never have but just reading about it and being able to sink in leaves a positive impact on their day even if it's just a split second daydream, don't underestimate your surroundings.
For the most part, my blog is nothing more than my personal journal, like a public dear diary. Probably why it's all over the place with zero consistency. I'm still amazed there is that many still interested in that nonsense that free floats around that sometimes ridiculous brain of mine! I'm still thankful for every .001 hive I get along the way as I now see it as potentially building a foundation to a more independent future and begin to make my photography more public outside of my personal facebook page. Something I never would have even considered without Hive or the Haveyoubeenhere community.
If it all eventually fades away like the FUD spreaders claim, I have learned a lot about myself during this journey. My ups, my downs, things to improve upon in my personal life or outlook. Learned new perspectives reading from other's experiences. Nothing brings you closer to what's inside your heart than writing. Something I struggled with before, you can't put a price on self discovery and the road to peace of mind and spirit. English isn't my first language and all self-taught therefore with every post, I master a bit more, learn new words, think in english more efficiently. There are too many aspects to list as to how this community has helped me in the ways of personal growth and there is no price tag for that...That alone is the reward.
Along with the self discovery, the more I wrote, the more trails I wanted to do, the more my passion for photography ignited, the more I wanted to learn about each location to represent them in a way they deserved. It became an addiction...Any addiction that makes me a bit smarter than I was yesterday is probably not a bad one to have...Right! Each area I visit has so much history or geologically interesting details for a history and nature nerd like me. Who knew I would keep learning these subjects passed school! All because of this cute little project. One could argue that Canada is a baby it has no history but au contraire mon cher, Native Americans were here over 10 000 years ago, so not that new of a place now is it? Often that history gets overlooked and that's a shame. Many of our parks hold several endangered plants and animals that I may have never know there was anything unusual about them. Many things go on behind the scenes of the park, each trip I learn a thing or two in that department especially during shoulder season. I realized we miss so much of life without knowing or noticing and this experience reminded me of that.
My hopes for the future is that more people discover projects like this one and grow into their potential both spiritually or professionally if you live in one of those places that your blog can support you, what do you have to lose?. Maybe if my blog can inspire one person to stop, slow down, assess your surroundings and just absorb it and how you feel about it, allow time to stop and forget what day it is. Just reconnect with the land around you and learn to appreciate all it does for us, all the knowledge and lessons it holds for those who dare dig deeper. It's a beautiful world out there, because of projects like Haveyoubeenhere, we get to share it all to one another in no way anyone has ever done before and that's pretty special. I feel honored every time one of my posts makes it to the daily digest and that the team still takes the time to visit and support my blog and journey along with the community as much as they have done over the years.