I've always loved writing.
My son knew this only too well, and I was super excited when he told me about this blockchain platform where I could write about any topic under the sun, and earn Crypto. That was in July 2017.
When I asked him to explain how this token was formed, he went into a long explanation, starting with:
Mom, you have to understand that money is not a real thing...
Well, that confused me right from the outset!
A draconian Lockdown
When COVID hit our shores and we went into a hard lockdown in 2020, our BnB guests stopped.
Naturally, so did their payments!
We were not allowed to accommodate any guests, except frontline workers, but all three of us in the home down to one now! had comorbidities.
Hubby and I were in retirement and relied on our BnB to supplement our retirement income and maintain a large property and staff.
Looking back, COVID, or rather the gross mishandling of it, killed more than just people, it destroyed many businesses as well, which had a ripple effect, as we all know and have experienced firsthand!
My total investment in Hive: Simply Time
I had not invested a cent in buying Hive, it was all earned by blogging, which came to my rescue when I had to start powering down during that awful lockdown!
It was a wow moment when I managed to turn my Hive into rands and cents to pay the bills!
Although I went back to HODL'ing mode, there have been some rocky patches since the loss of my darling hubs, where I could not power up and had to draw. Winding up an estate is a costly affair when there's property involved; and that process is still not complete.
It was mixed feelings each time I powered down, relief but also sad that I had to stop HODL'ing for a short while.
Lily's Cottage
The motoring companies whose apprentices attend a training centre close to us, keep our BnB full. I am super blessed to have their business, as Durban Tourism was dealt two heavy blows; rioting and looting in 2021, followed by mudslides in 2022 which caused massive damage to infrastructure, with sewerage spillage on beaches. Many BnBs simply closed down, as the beaches were Durban's main attractions.
My power-up
I've powered up 300 Hive today to reach another milestone - so I now sit at just over 21,000 HP.
Hive Fork during COVID lockdown - WOW!
I am super thankful to my son for introducing me to Shiteemit the blockchain; Hive became my chosen platform after Hive Fork in March 2020, the start of our hard lockdown; the timing was unbelievably spot-on!
I would never have believed back in 2017 that simply writing on a blockchain, would one day save my butt!
A big thank you to everyone who supports me, you all rock!
Why do we power up?
@hivebuzz has been giving out Power-Bees for a long while now; the more you power up, the bigger your Power-Bee!
They sum it up nicely in their post:
The first reason is to have fun and get a badge!
And here are some other great reasons to power-up your HIVE:
Strengthen your influence on the blockchain with stronger votes on content, proposals and witnesses.
Earn more curation rewards. The more Hive Power you have, the more you can potentially earn back
Earn "interest" by holding Hive Power. You will also earn HIVE passively at about 3% per year of what you currently have powered up so the more HIVE you have, the more you can earn from just holding!
Finally, several amazing members are offering prizes that include delegations, Hive giveaways, and other cool stuff to the Hive PUD participants.
Be ready and Power Up!
Create your own Forever Memory Bank
Join our community of awesome content creators
right here on HIVE
𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙩 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩
Join our Silver Bloggers community 
Artwork by @artywink
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
Many small business if not gone are battling to recover, life over the last few years in many instances the only sanity found was here in Hive with people.
Drawing down is basically the same around the world, we never walk in another man's shoes, never draw conclusions when you don't realize the reason.
!LUV
!WINEX
@lizelle, @joanstewart(2/10) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | <>< daily
Absolutely Joan! Hive has been a lifesaver in more ways than one, especially since my loss.
It's awful to see how some small businesses are struggling. We learnt that our timeshare board of directors want to pull out of the lovely Glenmore Sands. They're the major shareholders so the resort may be sold. Hopefully sanity prevails at their next meeting, members are all up in arms and it will have a ripple effect on the small businesses there. (I may have told you about that, not sure)
Unfortunately when I powered down, I lost support from big accounts for a while, wasn't nice as my blogging didn't stop, neither the effort I put into it.
But such is life!
Not blogging as much as I would like, constant turmoil within the home trying to right the ship perpetually. Still doing repairs within the house which has become a long slog on my shoulders.
Have not been able to sell our timeshare nor use it of late, the Gooderson's have been good over the years, understanding in trying to assist.
Not having powered down I still hope one day to enjoy some payment from work put into the system over a long period.
Carry on one foot in front of the other, take care!
Ah so we have your son to thank for your wonderful presence <3 I'm so glad you're here (and thanks for reminding me it was PUD!).
Personally, I don't think we should shun or punish people for taking out Hive when they need it. It seems draconic and counter-productive to me. Besides, as you yourself did, I think most OG users on here power-down when they need to, anyway. Obviously, you'd want to keep something in here and hope to see it grow. Or maybe I'm just naive, who knows?
Hey, congrats on that 21K! :O Impressive!
Thank you sweet @honeydue. Besides blogging helping me earn some Crypto without any startup costs, I would not have met wonderful people like you if I did not know about Hive!
My son also was the one who told me to look into Airbnb which for sure changed my life in a big way, especially now as it keeps me busy and I'm meeting some lovely people as well.
I absolutely agree, we should not be 'frowned upon' when powering down, but I lost support from big accounts when I had to do that (fortunately they came back again).
I like to write as well, but have been at a loss lately for motivation to do so. Finally got around to writing something early this morning/last night.
That is a nice power up and reminder of why we want to power up for the good of the community.
Thank you @coinjoe, we all get writer's block. I try to scan communities for challenges and prompts. Also jot down ideas in a notebook as they pop into my head.
I must hop over and see what you've been up to.
I have been trying to type out posts when ideas pop into my head, but I end up deleting the post after about two paragraphs. Something just hasn;t been clicking for some reason.
Never delete them, leave it in draft and go back next time you need inspiration!
Thanks for the tip. I beleive someone else mentioned that to me once as well. I guess it is time to start listening. 😀
Very interesting article and I like your hive journey.
Thank you @mnurhiver, it's been a wonderful journey 😊
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"Looking back, COVID, or rather the gross mishandling of it, killed more than just people, it destroyed many businesses as well"
Exactly this. I witnessed it happen in Vancouver. Vibrant communities, with diverse small businesses, were closed down and boarded up. Meanwhile, the Walmarts and Costcos of the world were allowed to stay open. A sad sight indeed.
Of course, the government came to the rescue with printed money to bail out laid-off workers and small business owners. It became clear that their end goal was to weaken us, and make us all dependent on their handouts (like zoo animals).
I'm happy to see some businesses returning to normal operations, and my hope is that crypto will re-invigorate the decimated small business sector.
Congratulations @lizelle! You received a personal badge!
Participate in the next Power Up Day and try to power-up more HIVE to get a bigger Power-Bee.
May the Hive Power be with you!
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Your son gave you a great gift when he told you about the Blockchain and this platform. Earning money is useless if you can't draw from it for your basic needs.
I'm glad that you were able to fall back on Hive during that tough period, there are actually some who depend on Hive for their next meal, for a loaf of bread. So Hive is useful for everyone.