When I first joined Steemit 7 months ago the only thing that I cared for was myself. I wanted upvotes, I wanted attention and was not happy that I was not getting any. I was selfish and arrogant. In short, I did not know how Steemit works.

All of that changed when I had a paradigm shift in attitude and instead of focusing on me, I focused on what I can do for other people. I focused on what I can do for communities. A large part of this was brought by @surpassinggoogle who I saw was touching the lives of different steemians from all over the world and helping build their dreams.

He created different aspects that aimed to break the barriers of what could be posted in Steemit because let us face it there is a huge discrimination that we face here. We have self-appointed guardians of quality who only know how to put other down by mocking them.

He made the following:

Un(dis)talented: Remove bum, average, smart and suddenly; "we are genius".
SteemGigs: Make "everyone" have something to offer" and suddenly; "dreams equaller reality".
Teardrops: Give tears value and suddenly; "we are back down-to-earth and "human"
Ulog: True Celebrities = True Fans + O; where letter "O" equals "loop" and suddenly; "Mama Earth shines brighter".

Another thing that made me change was seeing the efforts of @youarehope by Sircork. In one of those instances where I talked to him about how he was running a charity organization and he said that they are no-nonsense boots on the ground type charity organization that have agents of HOPE in the countries they support and the transfers to these people are quick, without transaction fees, and accounted for with the Thursday Donor Report and Transparency Townhall meeting for You Are Hope.

That resonated with me because as long as I have been in charities I was not one of those that simply gave money and patted myself on the back and say that I am such a good person. I was there in the disaster areas, I was there cooking for their food, I was there folding paper and sorting through school supplies and none of these were televised nor sent to newspapers for recognition.

I was there because someone asked for help and I was willing to do so.

These two people had such a profound effect on me and made me realize that there is more to Steemit than just getting upvotes and cashing out. Earning takes a backseat when you realize that you can help people from across the world and make a difference in their lives. All it takes is an upvote that you would use on yourself but use it on an advocacy that you care for instead.

This is living the abundance mindset instead of the scarcity mindset that we are all accustomed living in the real world. We have a chance to practice the gifteconomy in a near limitless way through our Voting power (well, of course, we need to have it recharge every day)

This is one of my reason for Why I am in Steemit, to be able to help people.

So on to the Project Shillings!!

@giftinkindph

Introducing Gift In Kind PH | Bringing hope to children through education

It will come as no surprise that I would support this project. It is our project after all and one that has been operating for the past 12 years.

A charity project that was borne from the dreams of one woman who wanted to help children of little to no means and give them a brighter tomorrow through education.

It has been tough especially getting donations but through willpower, a persistence attitude, wonderful members, and former members who still donate and a whole lot of luck but we are able to scrape enough yearly.

I nearly did not write this post and launched the account because I was afraid that it would not have enough support, that people would not care and it would destroy me if that happens.

You know having something that you cherish and love for the past 12 years and show it to the Steem world and not knowing if it will be received gave me anxiety attacks of what if I did not do it justice and I am not good enough to do this.

Yet a voice inside me said just try and have no expectations. If they like the message then great and if not then you did your best. So here we are published and with over 70 comments and almost $112 in value! When I gave the news to the core group they wept with tears of joy. I was tearing up as well because I couldn't believe how people responded to it.

Steemit has given so much to us and we want to give back so as one of the plans we have is for it to continually post about life in Banawen and all funds will be donated to the Aeta people but 10-20% will be powered up especially during periods that no funding is needed since we have outside streams of donations.

We will be curating charity posts and upvoting them. I have given delegations to it and will continue to do so until it reaches 500 SP and its goal of reaching 1000 SP by end of the year.

It will support the following projects as well with 100% upvotes.

@youarehope

[Credits to @fishyculture]

YouAreHOPE Thankful Thursday Donor Report!

This is what we aspire to be. A charity organization that is running in the Steem Blockchain and helping people.

It does not matter if you are a minnow, dolphin or whale your support is valuable and will be changing the lives of so many people from all over the world,

I just love what they are doing in Venezuela, in Africa, in Indonesia and even in my own country the Philippines. They have Agents of Hope bringing in help as needed, without any second thoughts or need to be worshipped.

This humble and yet so helpful way of supporting people in need is what I long for in a charity organization.

@tarc

@tarc stands for Tazewell Animal Rescue Center and is committed to funding this center through volunteers, donations, and posts using Steemit.

It helps rescues dogs, cats and, other abused animals. It also supports people who have financial problems or in need of rescue for their pets.

I have always lived with dogs and they are very dear to me and so when I discovered this as it was being run by @rhondak that I knew immediately that I would support it.

@backtoschool

I do not believe in accidents. Things always happen for a reason. It may not be a reason you like but it happens and I got to learn about this project when I was moderating in @surpassinggoogle's Talk with Terry show over in Discord.

Here I was trying to make sure that there was no dead air when @desmoniac started to talk about this project and I was intrigued because it was about educating children as well as promoting Steem. It was a one-two combination of things that I like to support.

After talking to him more and the rest of his core group I knew that this was something I can definitely help and support.

They prove to me that even if you are a minnow, you can already have a heart of a whale. They are proving to #beliketerry in regards sharing their votes and in dream building with these children.

Getting more people to Steemit is another way that they are humanizing the Steem blockchain making it easier to understand the technology behind it and how efforts are rewarded.

So these are just some of the projects that I know and fully support with both this account and the charity account.

This is my way of giving back to the Steemit community that has helped me all these 7 months in letting me pay-it-forward.

It is but one way that we can help spread awareness and help to people. It is our way of leaving this world better than when we first came. This is the beauty of empathy and technology being one and making a difference in someone's life.

This is but a step for me to #beliketerry.