Firstly I wanna say an epic, huge thank YOU to the indomitable Mr @galenkp esquire and congratulations on finding an initiative so bloody magnificent, that even after 100 weeks, it is still going extremely strong and I would venture to suggest that it has the legs to run for another 100 weeks if the big guy so chooses.
In this centenary week, yeah I know it hasn't been a 100 years (although in blockchain time, it pretty much is), the blog prompts all centre around our shared time on Hive or indeed the weekend engagement concept itself, which later evolved in to the weekend blog prompt imitative, due to the humongous engagement and commenting threads becoming 756 billion comments long or something like that anyway.
💯 Engagement on Hive
What does engagement on Hive mean to you and how do you do it? What methods or strategies have you used and what results have you had? Do you feel it has been helpful to build your account, have you enjoyed it or do you feel you'd rather not have to do it?
💯 Doing it differently
What would you do differently if you could start your Hive account from scratch today? What changes would you make to how you present yourself, the actions and activities you have undertaken and methods and processes you've employed. Given that change, what do you feel your account would look like in 100 weeks from today?
💯Going back to the start
If you could go back and give yourself some advice before starting on Hive what would it be and why?
💯 500 words on my #weekend-engagement concept
In 500 words or less explain what you like, or don't like, about the #weekend-engagement blog prompts concept I have devised and present each week.
Now I wouldn't normally copy so much text from the prompt post and don't usually share all the blog prompts in my post but this week is a little different as I cannot see me writing to one of the prompts without straying across the boundaries into all of the others.
Now those who are familiar with me will be fully aware that my time here has been a stuttering, hotchpotch of incredibly prolific spells and others when I hardly get time to write. The latter is disappointing to say the least as sharing my thoughts, ideas and life adventures has been incredibly important to me.
Hive appeared at a time in my life when I needed something, something of my own to focus on, put something of myself into and reconnect with who I actually am as I had become very lost in the preceding years.
There are a myriad of reasons to backup my previous statement but lest to say between work, life, family and some stressful health battles and major life events, I was struggling.
That's not to say that Hive became my hobby... Nope, that simply doesn't cover it at all. Trashy though it may sound, Hive became a lifeline for this weird English dude who needed to find his identity again. I had always fancied trying my hand at writing, being a prolific reader and lover of words and an incredibly deep thinker, I always felt I had something to offer and thought the written word to be a medium I would enjoy.
Oh and did I ever?
The words began to flow right from the start of my journey here and often I simply wasn't spent until 10k words+ had landed on the page. I've never been afraid of being a little outspoken on some topics that were important to me, such as my political views or the dangerous effect identity politics is having on the majority of the world and the ensuing culture wars that have barely begun and still see fallout ahead.
The idea of a downvote never entered my head as I was writing and I believe, or at least I hope I have always written in line with my ethical beliefs, integrity and from a place of standing for the courage of my convictions.
I have written about hurt, love, joy, sadness, debt, gardening, self-improvement, current events and the great trauma and mental challenge of shopping for M'lady's Christmas present.
Yup. I have had a lot of fun if truth be told, sharing the strange musings that float around inside my head. Sometimes it has been like opening a vent, sometimes cathartic, sometimes funny and on more than one occasion, I believe that Hive actually kept me from walking out on my day-job after it allowed me to write the frustrations away and laugh with some of you about what I had said in anger.
Ah! Speaking of you, YOU, dear reader are the reason I am still here and the most magical surprise of the whole journey.
I love to really connect with people, I don't discuss the weather or talk too much about sport or bland chit-chat, that's not my thing at all. I did not expect this medium to allow me to forge the same kind of deep connections and friendships that I was capable of making in the real world.
I have met friends here and shared in their sorrow, grief, darkest struggles and have had the great privilege of speaking to them off Hive about difficulties they were having and in some small way, I hope, helped them.
I have also had the great joy of meeting people who have experienced great joys or huge life changes in the time I have known them, I have sometimes been able to stowaway on the journey of their lives for a short while and live vicariously through them.
A community is far stronger than the sum of it's parts!
Every one of you have experienced this at various times along the journey, or if you haven't, you haven't ever believed in the strength or even the notion of community. If this is so, I urge you to change that view as you move forward and truly offer of yourself to be a part of the ever expanding Hive family.
I have known people with the most terrible hardships and illnesses in my time here and have actively supported some of them, some by way of encouraging, empathetic, caring words of support and sometimes financially in what small way I have been able to at the time.
I was staggered at the way we migrated as a whole (almost), from one community to a whole other one with a new name and made the migration work. I must confess I had my doubts that we would make it this far after the fork.
Sometimes you have to make a stand for what is right and just.
Oh and we certainly did.
I have been here for over four years now and I haven't broken any records or blazed a trail for others to follow, I have fallen short of the targets I had set for myself over and over again.
I learned the hard way that just because you enjoy a thing, writing for instance, occasionally it is beyond our scope be it for health reasons, family reasons, or simply because we are humans with lives to lead outside of Hive and sometimes time is in such shockingly short supply it must wait for another day, another week or indeed next month.
So it's fair to say I haven't had the journey I hoped for, planned for and desperately wanted, I have fallen short of my goals so many times BUT, I have always been me.
In so many ways, I wouldn't change a thing even if I could. I have enjoyed this journey, owned it even. Having said that, I wish I had stated sharing my own images sooner rather than stock photos.
I am certainly no world class photographer, have no eye for design principles and even my canva graphics that are juvenile, crappy and garish share a little of the real me. I love to share some of the authentic, embarrassing, real life Steven, I believe it helps with connection.
I've said it before and will repeat it once more, I was never gonna scope out a whale and ride through the deeper warmer waters clutching on to their tailfin, that is simply not who I am. For anyone wondering about this strategy, go forge your own way, I have seen many left crumpled by the wayside after putting all their eggs in 1 basket and only hanging with 1 or 2 wealthy whales here, there is too diverse a range of people here, a rich tapestry of cultures, to miss experiencing that is to miss a major piece of the puzzle.
Let me tell ya people, engagement is the secret sauce and the thing that makes it all worthwhile.
I have had so much damn fun in the comment sections of Hive, I cannot even begin to tell you. My problem of course is that I am unable to keep things brief (you may have begun to realise that if you're still with me right now!).
Let your comments on the work of others be real, honest, authentic and carry a little of your own personality within them. People WILL notice that you took some time to share your thoughts and didn't simply flyby copy pasting a 'great post Bro" beneath their masterpiece.
This is where most of my good friends have come from on Hive.
Oh and by the way, d'you remember that feeling of being brand new on the blockchain, spending hours creating a post and nobody, I mean nobody read it, commented on it or indeed voted on it... For those new here or indeed those who are established, try and help make sure that doesn't happen to the newbies of today.
I couldn't close without telling you how much @galenkp and his engagement/blog prompts have meant to me. For the last 100 weeks is has been head and shoulders my favourite regular thing to take part in on the blockchain.
Although I haven't taken part nearly as many weeks as I would've liked, it is the first thing I check out when I have some Hive time. It has been more than anything riotous maybe even inappropriate at times fun, more times than I can remember. I have had some great laughs met many great friends there, and made so many connections that I otherwise would not have.
For the Hive user with little traction, low engagement, no solid friendships it is the number one place to be. You WILL meet more people via the initiative each weekend than you will in a barren month of your own silent echo chamber, I promise!
It's taken me over 4 years to almost reach dolphin status, which was not the plan, I gotta tell ya! All in all though, I own my journey so far and it has been in so many ways filled with fun, friends and fulfilment...
Who could possibly ask for anything more than that?
The last thing I want to mention is the thrill I got from meeting a handful of UK Hivers in so-called real life towards the end of 2020, it would have been way more but uhm, dunno if you've heard about that whole COVID thing!!!
I am happy and incredibly excited to say that we are finally getting to do it all again next month. I simply have to tell you that if you ever4 get the opportunity to do the same, grab it with all 3 hands, or just 2 if that's the best you can manage. It is awesome to put faces to some of the names you have known for the longest time.
The energy in the room when a few people with a shared purpose get together is phenomenal, I highly, highly recommend it.
@shanibeer @nathanmars @slobberchops @shmoogleosukami and of course the man who organised it all, the purveyor of some of the finest coffee I have ever tasted without exaggeration and an all round genuinely lovely guy and hive witness to boot @c0ff33a all made me feel like I was in the company of people I had known for many years.
I thank you all for the amazing memories of my first ever (but far from last) Hive meetup.
I hope to meet many more of you in the coming Hive years, regardless of wherever you are on the planet.
Enjoy the future, may it bring you as much meaning, happiness and connection as it has me.
Oh and to Galen, thank you Sir for the most magnificent initiative on the blockchain and the work you put in every single bloody week, (a LOT of work!!!) you are a legend brother! I am incredibly grateful to have met you and shared so many laughs and even a few serious moments with you man.
You quite categorically rock, you dynamic, antipodean enigma of a knucklehead!
Thank YOU for taking the time to read my post and if you're one of those amazing people who like to hit the comments section... Then I doubly thank YOU!
Either way I want you to know that you are appreciated!
Keep taking the time to connect with each-other both here and in the 'so-called' real world and try and look after each-other, because as you already know...
