Crackpots and Nutjobs: Been here for years, still the same

Hive is a funny old place.

While a lot don't like to admit it, most have come for the money, at least originally. I know that I did, because my family was going through one of the hardest economic challenges I had faced after the birth of our child and I was desperate. However, just prior to the birth, my wife and I were doing relatively well and for the few years prior and while nothing super glamorous, we had been able to travel a bit and save a bit. A couple years earlier I had sold my city apartment with a healthy margin and bought something in the suburbs which was larger, but near half the price. We were doing okay.

But, of course, this is not always the case in the world and a lot of people joined Hive because they were struggling financially, with many, always having struggled financially. Not all mind you - there are plenty of people who were doing just fine before Hive and came for other reasons too, but I think that it is fair to say that it isn't uncommon for people to have been on the survivor side of the economy, rather than the thriver side.

Fast forward to the present day.

It has been almost five years for me and I have been part of the platform here in various perspectives both publicly and in the background for most of those years. It has been super interesting for me, but what is funny to note is that if I hadn't been struggling financially, I probably wouldn't have chanced upon Hive at all, as I wouldn't have been desperate and the person who mentioned that they had heard of a place where a half decent writer could possibly earn a crust, wouldn't have mentioned it.

However, during this time I have seen people who joined near the beginning of the chain and many others who joined when I did, continue to struggle financially. Don't get me wrong, I am not "living it up" in life at the moment, but I think that in that half a decade I have been able to somewhat turn my financial position around and get back onto a growth path and perhaps, well beyond - depending on the markets in the moment. But, since my lifestyle IRL hasn't required crypto, it means that this turn around isn't because of me earning online. What has happened in the time I have been here is that I have changed my habits, my outlook, my decisions, my work volume, my just about everything.

I am definitely not the only one to do so and there are many who have made incredible wealth changes in the same or shorter amounts of time, but I am still pretty content that I am no longer where I was - because I disliked being there. Yet, what about all of the others who despite having similar opportunity for opportunities that I had, are still pretty much where they were when they started? Isn't it strange?

When I reflect back on my time spent, experiences and decisions in the last five years, I can see in hindsight I made many, many mistakes, yet have still managed to salvage them into a net positive. I don't just mean a positive from a financial perspective either, but I have changed in other ways too, predominantly for the better - I think. But if I was to look back on this time and all the effort I have put in and be in pretty much the same position I was when I started, what would that say about me - especially if I wasn't enjoying where I was back then.

Do you know how the content on Facebook (Haven't used it in four years) that you see from most friends is seasonal? Year after year, the same posts almost verbatim get repeated about the first snow, the first sun, the latest election, the sporting final, the holiday trip... the pictures change perhaps and a few words are swapped around, but it is like there is a posting schedule of the mundane. There are people here like that, except it is just their lives on repeat and in the years that they have been here - they haven't changed. And often, it is these people who are the ones struggling in various ways, whether it be financially or emotionally and, they are also the ones that tend to see themselves as "right" even though they rarely know what they are talking about and even when people spend a lot of time trying to help them, they think they still think they are correct.

You know, perhaps in the long-run (whatever long means these days) Hive will fail, but if you have come from a financially difficult background, have been here for several years, and aren't in a far better position now - is it the platform that has failed? But I think that part of the problem is with what "long" means in this case, as while everything is destined to fail, a lot of people are so scared of that failure, that they are "making hay while the sun shines" and constantly selling their opportunity. They seem to think that they have beaten the system and won before the collapse, but if life isn't better and without the system they are worse off, what have they won?

Hive for me is about an opportunity to take ownership and build a better life, on and off the internet. It isn't just about a chance at an improved financial future, it is about improving as a person also and as a useful member of a community. But it is funny, as the people who are negative about the platform and certain of its demise because they know what is best and what people are doing on Hive is not it (because they aren't voting for them), are generally the ones who offer the least, but want the most from the system that they believe is going to collapse at any moment to the point they will not hold any value in it.

Of course - what they bring to the community table is their copious amounts of wisdom and direction on how to do things the right way - yet I wonder, in a Proof-of-Brain system, if you spend years on end and have not changed much or brought change, what does that mean?

What I like about Hive is that there are so many ways to use one's brains and talents to generate value as an individual and for others, that is is almost ridiculous when people are unable to. I'm not saying that it is easy or fast, but it is possible for pretty much anyone to do it. However, this is also going to depend on the person IRL too, and I think that many who came here, they were already the kinds of people who were struggling. But struggle doesn't mean that it is caused by external circumstances outside of control, it can most definitely be self-inflicted.

For some, it doesn't matter what system they are a part of, they will find a way to be successful. While for others, no matter what opportunities they get, they will find a way to not take them. While I think that luck plays a part and none of us are truly "self-made" I also think that a lot of us are at least partially self-destructed. Rather than look for ways to improve, we look for excuses for why we don't have to, and despite the results we get from our behavior, they are always someone else's fault.

I am lucky. I have met some awesome people on Hive and I have met some absolute shockers as well. Everyone is on some kind of spectrum and this is the internet after all, so the shockers are to be expected. However, the experience we get is going to be skewed by who we spend our time with and the content we consume and when there are some people who only consume what supports their position, it is natural that they are not going to have a broad understanding of the ecosystem that they are within, even if they have been in it for years.

Some people seem to think that remaining unchanged is a good thing, as if they have been right all along and are committed to their cause. No, remaining the same in a dynamic environment means to stagnate and atrophy, to weaken, not strengthen. Years under the belt in a world of new technology, new economy and new possibility - still doing the same thing, getting the same results.

What a wasted opportunity.

Taraz [ Gen1: Hive ]