Hello HIVE! What's up with you guys? It's been a little while. After a week of hiatus I've finally regained the time, motivation and energy to choke back this so-called writer's block. I am only doing stuff like managing our family's micro business, spending time with my family. I mostly have time to spare with my nieces by giving them tutoring sessions. We've been experiencing rainy days in our hometown for the past week before and during the landfall of the tropical storm "Auring" in Surigao Del Sur region. Many houses were submerged in flood water and people have immediately evacuated. I am just fortunate that my hometown Surigao City is not very much affected but has been experiencing heavy rain and strong winds.

Despite what's been happening, I'm really stoked to make a post about something that's been circling my mind and I've long been wanting to write and luckily I'm given the opportunity to do so.

I am just going to share something about my humble awareness and learnings about the hive platform and as well as my experiences by far.

WHAT IS HIVE.BLOG?

How does Hive.blog work?

Hive.blog is one of the many websites that are powered by the Hive blockchain and HIVE cryptocurrency. All of these websites read and write content to the Hive blockchain, which stores the content in an immutable blockchain ledger, and rewards users for their contributions with digital tokens called HIVE.

Every day, the Hive blockchain mints new HIVE tokens and adds them to a community's "rewards pool". These tokens are then awarded to users for their contributions, based on the votes that their content receives. Users who hold more tokens in their account as "Hive Power" will get to decide where a larger portion of the rewards pool is distributed.

Source: HIVE FAQs

What are the significant roles of HIVE platforms during this pandemic?

It's been almost a year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic and it has greatly impacted each and everyone and literally changed our lives. Economy has crashed down, tens of thousands of people lost their jobs and countries are still struggling in flattening the curve of this health crisis. We all have been sheltering at home as a precautionary measure to avoid the spread of the virus and the world is gradually adapting to this so-called new normal.

Photo by: @lomash_s

Most of us are probably way affected by the uncertainties and unusual ways we have to deal during this pandemic. People are struggling coping up not just with finances but also keeping ourselves sane everyday single day. If you have been with me in my blog, you probably knew that some of my contents talk about adulting that also includes how I try hard to manage stress so it wouldn't badly affect my mental health especially in trying times like this.

1.) WRITING & READING IN HIVE AS A HOBBY IS A STRESS BUSTER.

Photo by: @persnicketyprints

This pandemic has helped most people to go back with our hobbies or even find new ones. I have been writing for quite some time and I personally believe that it does help me improve my mental health. I do write things whenever I feel like I'm about to get burned out. In times like you experience writer's block, reading articles in HIVE truly helps me gain that motivation back by learning different blogging styles from other articles in the community.

2.) HIVE GIVES YOU MONETARY REWARDS.

As we know, there are a lot of people who lost their jobs and are having a hard time looking for a new one because of the restrictions that this health crisis caused our economy. As a result businesses needed to close and lay people off. Hive as a decentralized platform incentivized its users contributions in the platform. However, we are not guaranteed of rewards all the time but thankfully we have a lot of communities in the platform which help steer our contents to the right audiences so they will be able to curate our contents.

There are actually plenty of ways to earn in HIVE. You can get rewarded by being a content creator which gives you author rewards. Then, by curating or liking others also gives you curation rewards. These are the two basic ways on how to earn on the platform. You'll surely be able to find other ways to earn as you explore how the hive blockchain works and by engaging to other users.

3.) HIVE gives you a wide range of education in different fields.

Photo by: @firmbee

Most of us probably have more free time this pandemic and we can already spare some of our time on learning things online. As I have mentioned, HIVE consists of different communities which provide a lot of useful articles that provide you free learning. The communities are categorized based on what contents they offer and to easily direct users' contents to the right audiences. You can learn about travel, finance & crypto currency, food, photography & editing, gaming and a lot more.

4.) HIVE makes the world smaller. You can meet new friends.

Photo by: @cferdo

Due to the pandemic, we barely go out and socialize with our friends or make friends with strangers. This new normal has really changed our lives in so many ways and that includes the way we socialize. Nowadays we interact with your friends and meet new people online. Just so you know, hive users come from different corners of the world. By engaging in hive you can meet different people with the same interests as you do. You may interact with people by engaging to their contents and share your ideas too. You can also make useful content and share it with them as well.

You can also follow and join your country or city's communal account. People can share ideas on how to grow their hive accounts and earn more rewards by interacting with them and joining community meet ups.

MY EXPERIENCES AND JOURNEY IN THE BLOCKCHAIN BY FAR

These photos were taken during the 6th steemit meet-up in cebu that we organized together with the @steemphcebu team

I have been a crypto blogger for years and have been doing this as a hobby and also a part time hustle by posting contents and staking my earnings for future use. I've been part of the community even before the hive fork and my experiences were incredibly unforgettable. I was actively organizing community meet ups in promoting the blockchain and I must say that I'm really loving it. I met incredibly amazing people from different walks of life. I got the chance to travel to places by only using my earnings.

This was during the first ever cebu steemit meet up that my friend @fernwehninja and I organized to gradually promote the blockchain in Cebu.

We were able to gather volunteers from the @steemphcebu community and distributed foods, slippers and school supplies to the less fortunate families in Cebu who also happened to be the victims of the fire during that time. This is one of the most satisfying and fulfilling moments I've had in the community. I am happy to be part of this wonderful community and be able to help and put smiles to those families.

I really do hope that we can still do organize activities like this in the HIVE blockchain and use this as a tool to help people in and out the community.

I am still learning a lot more about the blockchain specially with its technicalities and the crypto world and thanks to people whom I met along the way for I learned new things every time. I do write contents about travel, food, photography, education, volunteer activities, adulting and fitness. Writing in the blockchain helps me improve my English and writing skills and it also relieves my stress if I need to take a break from a fast-paced life outside the internet.

I'm also planning to promote HIVE in our community specially to my friends and family so they could also enjoy the benefits that it gives not just financially but also mentally. I found this platform very helpful to my mental state for I get to hear stories of other people who are also going through difficult times during this pandemic. I'm also confident of expressing myself without getting scared of being censored and that's what makes the hive platform special compared to centralized social media platforms where generally who benefits the most are the investors, advertisers and the company itself and they have the very rights to take down posts as they wish.

That's basically it,

Regards,
@itinerantph

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODES!