7 Years of my life on the BlockChain

--- I have spent roughly 16.667% of my life now on HIVE. That's pretty incredible if you ask me. I also want to point out that in that 7 year period, I have only personally posted 350 posts give or take a few. That compared to my comments, upvotes, and community activity, I have to say, is pretty outstanding on this platform! ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/castleberry/244eNqKqWZwRCAdvT2Ng68uRBoPmwkghtCdkVLSy4opqH6fAKNiji2ApeLumHn4SaSkrx.png) I actually took almost a full year off of ~~Steemit~~/**HIVE** at one point and came back to a HardFork and a whole lot of drama. I never would have imagined all of the drama that unfolded and created the space we all share now. It's been a beautiful ride and many labors of LOVE! I would be much further along and bigger in account and reputation values had I not taken that time off. I also didn't optimize my use here to benefit. I have consistently from the beginning, tried to engage and help as much and as many as possible. The learning curve here for new users can be brutal. My goals have been to help those who didn't have the opportunity for advice like I would have wished for when I first started. Then we also have to account for the addition of communities. This was something that should have been an original no-brainer... but I came back to a place that had a built-in text editor as well as communities. Up until my return to Hive from the forked chain *Steem*, there never had been communities or more fluid ways to integrate your own content with like minds and without having some coding knowledge. We only connected through hard work creating content and by following users and tags that had our interests aligned. Tags were all we had to connect and still.... #ihatetags. I wanted to share some of my favorite content over the years with you all. I have been a big participant in the arts related to the classical arts, the modern digital arts, and photography in general. I've also been a participant in the curation, management, and culture of HIVE from a community level and then some. A couple of my most successful posts have been tutorials explaining... https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://images.pexels.com/photos/4027658/pexels-photo-4027658.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=650&w=940 _{[How To Get A Great Start on the Hive Blockchain](https://peakd.com/hive-174578/@castleberry/how-to-get-a-great-start-on-the-hive-blockchain)} On Hive there is a lot of web3 etiquette and unspoken rules to adhere to. This can be difficult to navigate without help. So, I began a series I thought may help out the newer users and at times... even some of the more seasoned Hivers. https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/castleberry/23vhoRXyjwrHqAX647y7twaMFegu9vW1VUPd27bumLkjHzPDHPzjBWThU9JJXKunLvw13.png_{[How To Get A Great Start on Hive 2](https://peakd.com/hive-174578/@castleberry/how-to-get-a-great-start-on-hive-2)} Many users still get useful information from those posts. I have been meaning to make a part 3 forever! Maybe that will be coming soon since so much has changed since both of those posts were shared to help everyone! I also wanted to feature some of my favorite posts an images from my time on Hive. One of my favorite posts that I put a lot of study and research into was/is..... https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://media.giphy.com/media/m7FO0p9hTc59e/giphy.gif [What is CryptoCurrency](https://peakd.com/cryptocurrency/@castleberry/what-is-crypto-currency) Ultimately, it didn't do so well as far as pay or rewards go... but the info was a primer for most people that have no idea what any of this crypto blockchain stuff means. https://images.hive.blog/0x0/http://image.ibb.co/kXSukm/Heart1.jpg _{[After My Own Heart](https://peakd.com/fungusamongus/@castleberry/after-my-own-heart)} Some of my best content on Hive has been split between displaying image and written context. I have tried to make a good balance and have held myself to a standard that I don't think is realistic. I have also shared my faith and content relevant to that as well. https://youtu.be/Aqb095s8tyY[Spiritual Warfare - Solutions & Strategies](https://peakd.com/life/@castleberry/spiritual-warfare-solutions-and-strategies) https://images.hive.blog/0x0/http://image.ibb.co/mhLt6b/Green_Cactus.jpg https://images.hive.blog/0x0/http://image.ibb.co/cRLiCR/Castleberry_Crunch_Tree.jpg A couple of my first NFTs before we had [NFT Showroom](https://nftshowroom.com/) on HIVE! Here is an artwork of Carnage from the Marvel/Spider-Man Universe. I was asked to be a beta tester for Maker's Place, an NFT platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://image.ibb.co/jifx9G/Maximum_Carnage_1a.jpghttps://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://image.ibb.co/jifx9G/Maximum_Carnage_1a.jpg In fact, my most successful NFT was the Amazing SpiderMan image you see below. I still have most of my pay from that image and I have to say it's been a feather in my cap of Web3 Inspiration! https://images.hive.blog/0x0/http://steepshot.org/api/v1/image/4d3c50b0-ab25-4e14-b123-bd6d9affaefc.jpeg_{[Spider-Man - Original Artwork by @castleberry](https://peakd.com/photofeed/@castleberry/20180216t194747171z-post)} Along the way of growing into who I have become here on HIVE... i have to give some credit to Taraz for delegating me some HP/SP back in the day that helped me get the voting slider before it was common practice to have one. Taraz and his bro have been pillars of the Hive community in general as well as good role models for how to conduct this thing we call life. https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://image.ibb.co/dtXLkx/Good_Guy_Taraz.jpg They say it takes a village to raise a child... and in this case, it took a lot of children to create the Hive village we see today! Thanks to Taraz for being the bully on the block that just wanted to make the block a better place for everyone! This has always been a welcoming and amazing place to share my art! I am everso grateful for the opportunity to have profited from what I felt to be just an endeavor of something that I enjoyed. Art and all of it's forms has and will always be my passion. But to see that passion overlap with so many different displays of output has really inspired me in many different ways! https://images.hive.blog/0x0/http://steepshot.org/api/v1/image/d869f706-6004-4b29-a8fd-5e400214819d.jpeg _{[CRAYOLA QUEEN ~](https://peakd.com/art/@castleberry/20180310t214804344z-post)} My primary focus has always been analogue and traditional art. Now, I get to add in the digital art to that list. It's been amazing to keep up with and participate in the inception of AI and it's influence over art. To watch AI make shitty art with 12 fingers per hand to now make an image that is almost indescernable from a real to life image... has been one of the most pinnacle moments of my life. https://images.hive.blog/0x0/http://steepshot.org/api/v1/image/48c64582-3229-4497-87c9-8ba2d7635455.jpeg_{[Giant Slayer](https://peakd.com/art/@castleberry/web-2018-2-6-21-35-16)} ---

Posts With the Most

I have also had some gaming posts along with my photography that has been proportionally valued! I think this one below did well because of the nostalgia that it hit on and there was a cool history I uncovered in researching the gaming culture develop from my generation's perspective. It's still worth a read if you enjoy gaming or just video games in general! https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://media.giphy.com/media/W1ecIq4sEofza/giphy.gif _{[Hive Gaming Community - MY Best Video Game Memories](https://peakd.com/hive-140217/@castleberry/hive-gaming-community-my-best-video-game-memories)} Some of my posts have been a commentary on pop-culture from when I was growing up! Like the example below! I scanned each one of those cards to make an image. https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/castleberry/1u76sLv3-GPK204.jpg_{[Garbage Down Memory Lane](https://peakd.com/hive-174578/@castleberry/garbage-down-memory-lane)} I also participated in many contests and challenges that stimulated my creativity along the way. I did color cutouts on paper to make the images below. You can click any of the blue links in this post to visit the old original posts and see in full what I am describing! https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/castleberry/yErdNxcJ-DSCN0200202.JPG _{[HiveGamingCommunity ~ Drawing Contest](https://peakd.com/hive-140217/@castleberry/hivegamingcommunity-drawing-contest)} Some of my photography posts have been taking shots of my artwork from different macro angles that present in a totally different way! https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/castleberry/TUM8L7B3-DSCN3977202.JPG _{[Expectant Agog : Orientations](https://peakd.com/hive-156509/@castleberry/expectant-agog-orientations)} I tried to go fish for old posts that I thought would be nice to check out without having to scroll through 7 years of posts. It was cool for me to take the proverbial stroll down memory lane. https://i.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExMnhheHptajA2eWNubjduc2ljemViYjhqZG1zZGtrNWczazBtZ2Q1YiZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/LwBqbMbF2EDZDuFrHK/giphy-downsized.gif _{[The Feels....](https://giphy.com/gifs/schittscreek-5q24u3s0nmtNGIDMdK)} ---

Closing Thoughts

Being on Hive has been an amazing experience. I have been fortunate to have made many new friends from all over there world because of this opportunity. I don't think Hive is a place to just focus on profits and the potential financial aspects to the benefits of participating. I think more value is to be found in bonds and memories that are priceless! I know many scammers have come and exploited the system here, I have had to deal with many of them when managing the communities! But I also don't think we would have too many people here who would just do it all for free if there was no monetary aspect to this gamification of social media either. Everyone is entitled to do what they want with their rewards here and I respect that. But, I have also respected the system and community in these 7 years enough to have only done 2 powerdowns in my time here. Those were both to help pay for diapers and other essentials for my kid... who will turn 1 year old next month. https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/castleberry/23xAa7YK5v84t4pwPWVLBVLMd3iKAwE4mnCFmzmh42TXka5f7zKwbwbffdKYAq6K1AuTR.jpg _{[My Son of Thunder](https://peakd.com/hive-126152/@castleberry/my-son-of-thunder)} It's been a crazy year to say the least... but it's also been an amazing 7 years of actualizing the opportunity. It took a long time to grow considering many of my early posts averaged maybe about .30 cents. If profit and gain was my goal I would have walked away a very long time ago. I can say it's been nice to finally actualize some profits here because of my longterm approach to how I view Hive. https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/968822563662860338/1211353911605338172/ba366169-4619-46e3-ab3b-4981eb351951.png?ex=65ede43e&is=65db6f3e&hm=c3b2ef95a91e48a4415b3654ae7da358a18f53f075596264c2d4a40298823570& _{[The Art of Life](https://peakd.com/hive-158694/@castleberry/the-art-of-life)} I really feel like the core of users that have put in the most time, effort, and skin in the game (even if it wasn't money) are the users that set the best examples and have the best ethics when it comes to making this a place somewhere we all want to be. New users come in waves and over the years some of the newer users are the ones that I have connected with the most. Now, some of them are not new at all anymore and have outgrown me! hahaha

https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/castleberry/EoCjUN3H6XhySUDKUaYuayC3mrM3qRfhyHZqrA7evKAiBjNHVNdZRuiVPQs1DULvTUU.jpg _{[Inktober - Garfield](https://peakd.com/hive-158694/@castleberry/inktober-garfield)} This October is going to be more special than usual. Hopefully, I will try to get a little ink put down this year! It's taken me 3 days to get this post across the finish line! So, happy *belated* Hive Birthday to me now! hahaha I'm looking forward to seeing what the future has in store for us all here on the Hive Blockchain. It would also be super cool to go to HiveFest at least once in my life considering how that has just finished for this time around. How fast time moves and how slow I am to react or have the ability at times to respond is incredible. Ok, before I start to rant or go too far off on my tangents and delay this post another 3 days... i will call this a wrap. Thank you for taking time to check out my post and read my meandering thoughts. A special thank you if you took the time to go see any of my old posts as well. Thank you to everyone who has crossed my path here on Hive in the last 7 years! I hope for many, many more years of Hive experience to come for us all! Take care ![untitled.gif](https://media.tenor.com/sV9v8pMjMx8AAAAC/wish-joy-of-painting.gif) ![dividers-04.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmdvc788wxsBSQHY3z21o3wSTU7hqRnyYc2JFEn2pEYSev/dividers-04.png)

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