Ever have one of those times when everything combines into one giant clusterfuck? That's what happened to me in November/December and why I've been mostly AWOL for the last few weeks. I'd been slowly but steadily buying small amounts of crypto, powering up some of my earnings, while posting for the first time on LeoFinance. As a student, I don't get to post as much as I'd like, and would drop in with something when I had time between Hive posts.
My middling dCITY was giving me a few SIM each day, which I was adding a card or two while building my stash. Had just completed my first week of 100+ comments on Leo posts and was beginning week two. Then, got lucky and saw one of my posts on blogging, m make the main page. Exciting times, right? Ahhh, but everything was not going so well on the financial front...
Forecast: Cloudy
As a student, I get by mostly on loans and also care for a terminal relative who is the matriarch of the family, so I have a lot on my plate. Unfortunately, I don't live in Europe, where they actually seem to care about their citizens and provide them with support during this pandemic. As a student, while I did quality for the $1200 stimulus check everyone got last Spring, I did not qualify for the $600 per wk unemployment that many people got, as I did not lose a job due to COVID. But I was hopeful that once the Presidential election was over, the Democrats and Republicans would get together and provide more support during this time of crisis.
Nope.
Weeks after the election, I couldn't believe they were still negotiating while people were suffering. I'd been keeping an eye on local places that hire like Walmart, but in this area, many workers walk around with the mask under their chins or none at all. Making it a risky choice to work there. The city is blue, but the outlying areas are red, so there are plenty of maskless people around, putting everyone else at risk. So that option was an absolute last resort as we've had people die here from coronavirus even after they wore a mask on the job. There is a constant change of people stocking shelves here as workers get sick and are replaced. Just last week, I saw a woman ringing customers up and all she had on was a clear plastic face shield, no mask at all. So many coughing all over each other obviously ill, that we avoid the place as much as possible. Would you roll the dice with your life by working there? Looking at my dwindling savings, I began cutting things back. The first to go was the internet, where I shared my phone's data connection with my laptop.
At that point, just as I was making connections on LeoFinance and gaining some traction, I had to start liquidating assets. Only now, I had to travel to public WiFi hotspots, since I live on my own, instead of blogging from home. That meant no more 100+ comments per week, which is why you hardly see me on the blockchain outside the odd comment here and there. I'd check the news daily thinking surely they'd come to a stimulus agreement soon, right? Never thinking we would approach Christmas, with no deal.
So with great reluctance, I began selling the stake I built in Hive Leo and SIM I'd painstakingly built up over time. But doing it as slowly as I could, hoping an agreement would happen any day now. First to go were the LEO miners I'd bought in the Spring and over the Summer. The returns were dropping as more people bought in due to the popularity of the platform. Then any other extra crypto that was available. The point was to avoid powering down Hive or Leo. Since I was getting a regular amount of SIM daily, I decided to skim that once a week and combine it with my other crypto sales in order to buy some time. Eventually, even that wasn't enough and I had no choice but to power down.
I had around 715 LEO at the time and was about to power up and become an Orca at 800. That's when I realized, I'd better hold in case things went downhill and I needed to sell, which is exactly what ended up happening. You guys have no idea how painful it was to have to hit "power down" something I had not had to do since joining Steemit in 2017.
LEO was around 0.22 and HIVE at about 0.11 when I began this and the funds arrived in the nick of time. There were other things I processed along with my crypto that allowed me to just get by. Not long after, Bitcoin began its march to near 20,000 and I now have to watch LEO cresting 0.50 and HIVE around 0.13 as I'm forced to sell. What did Murphy say? "Anything that can go wrong, will."
Things WILL get better
However, I'm strangely optimistic for the near future and am seeing signs that things will get better. I got a letter yesterday, referencing some long-forgotten funds I'd sent someone that were never picked up, so that couldn't have come at a better time. Other happy indicators are also on the horizon and I have every intention of rebuilding my crypto accounts once this is all over. LEO will likely be over $1 then as I'm buying back in! However, I'm happy for those who've been able to hang on and now are rewarded for the dedication they had in building this community. Enjoy your success and with any luck, I'll be joining you soon! :)
Thank You So Much!
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