STEEM Gives Me The Opportunity
To Finance My Education.
I started to study in March this year. I study Health- and Social care and my main subject will be Psychiatry during the last half of 2019. During the final 7-ish months of my education, I won't be eligible any new student loans so I will have to finance the last period of studies by other means. I am a full time student and I work extra a few hours here and there on top of that as it is today, to afford my living expenses. My monthly student-income doesn't quite cover my living expenses, rent and my other bills, such as internet and cellphone, so I had to find a job. With those extra work hours and with the use of a portion of my Steem-income, I'm able to survive.
When I sent my application to this education, it said that it would end in "September 2019". That is why I decided to apply, even though I knew that I wouldn't be eligible student loans throughout the entire period. It should've been from March 2018 to September 2019. I knew from the start that there would be a few months without my student income, but I figured that I'd be able to handle it somehow.
However, when we came back to School after the summer break, we received the news. The education is set to end in December 2019. Some of my classmates have jobs and are off duty during the education, but they've been granted leave of absence until September 2019 and not December, so this is obviously a huge obstacle for several people.
I worked as a freelancer for several years before I finally took the leap of faith and dived straight into this education. It was an insane transition. I had been my own boss for years and I suddenly have teachers who're telling me what I have to learn and a bunch of forthcoming exams to prove my knowledge. I have said this before, but the biggest reason for this education is because it's an attempt to overcome my mental illness. It's a form of "self-heal" along with the opportunity, and knowledge to help others. I strive to heal the world. I want to help others to live their lives to the fullest. I want to be the help that I never had.
Long before I decided to study I spent months thinking about various things and I was trying to calculate everything. I tried to get the odds in my favor. I crunched numbers day and night, and I eventually felt good enough to send my application. I knew that this decision would affect my financial situation, but it felt okay. It felt doable.
I never realized how much this would affect me though. My calculations didn't match what I experience. However, I'm not known to give up, and due to the fact that this is literally the first time in more than a decade I really want something, I need to accomplish this. Steem gives me a fantastic opportunity and I'm able to finance some of my livelihood nowadays due to its existence, and due to my approach.
I still don't dare to think about May 2019. Many things can happen until then. If I'm lucky, things will work in my favor in terms of the price of Steem for instance. That would make everything much easier. Imagine if the price of Steem would go up to $10. I would be able to finish my education smoothly if that ever happened. For now though, I'm focused on today. One step at the time. Baby Steps.
As long as I power down during a value of $0,70+/Steem, I'll be okay. More or less. It will be hard every now and then, but I'll manage. As long as the price stays above 0,70...
I will continue to power down and use my Steem-income to afford my livelihood. In May 2019, things will be different. It's literally impossible to tell what'll happen. It's too early to tell. What I do know, is that I power down almost as much as I earn on a weekly basis, so if I step up my game a notch, I'll continue to grow my account, and that's something very important to me.
That's my current Steem-goal. To step up my game and eventually grow my account, even though I power down. That would increase my chances of having any form of impact on Steemit. It would give me the opportunity to curate, support and help authors from all over the world in a better way than I do today.
I have never really seen Steem or SBD as "money". I've looked at these two things as tokens... But that's impossible while I'm in the middle of this situation. I won't pray for spikes in price or anything like that. I obviously wouldn't mind if Steem went to the moon, but what's more important to me, right now, is that it stays above 0,70.
If it goes below that during this time, I'd be forced to become a quitter. I would probably have to pause everything Steem-related and I would become an inactive user. If the price would stabilize below 0,70, I'd eventually be forced to drop out of School and to give up on my dreams (for now).
Well, it all depends on the actual price, and there are some other factors too obviously... But like I said:
- I'm not known to give up.
Just imagine the headlines:
"A Swedish guy finance an entire education and his livelihood due to the Steem blockchain."
That would've been crazy... But it is possible.
