It is no secret that I came to Steemit at the lowest point of my life. I am suffering from depression and there are some instances that it gets so bad that I don't want to go out at times. Locked away in my room I was in a perpetual loop of work, sleep, and brooding.

Steemit was just another blog platform for me to give shape to the demons in my head. It was a place to put words to the fears, to admit to myself that I am not doing okay. My mind a jumble of emotions and pain. My early months reflected this. The writing bad and all over the place. In a way, I forgot who I was and was focused too much on the pain and despair.

I found several individuals who shared the same pain and feeling lost. We were a ragtag group of individuals who were broken and found solace that we were not alone. That someone out there understood what I was going through.

It was a flicker of light amidst a sea of darkness. A spark that started a glow that led followers to a path. A vision of light in a fog of self-doubt and loneliness. It was a start.

December was supposed to be the end. Yet writing in Steemit awakened a need for me to stay and keep reading and engaging people especially those that were suffering like me. I felt there was a need to look forward to something and it was almost New Year already.

People make New Year's resolutions each year and break most of them. They create a list and forget about it as they lose traction or interest. One of the things that really worked for me was a Visionboard.

What is a visionboard?

it is a visual representation of your goals, hopes and dreams. It is your aspirations and what you want your life to be. It is the things that you want to achieve given enough time, patience and work

This was the way that I wanted to contribute. To engage people and have them look forward to the new year with hope. Now I didn't have the following yet and although I was in a community but then engagement is always a problem because as in most communities majority of the people are your drop linkers.

To be able to motivate people to do something you need a carrot to entice them. So a contest was a good way of doing things. I have seen people do contests that they want to earn a bigger prize pool, some also call for follows as a requirement and lastly to resteem for bigger exposure. It is not necessarily bad if those are what you are after but when I run contests it is a way for me to give back to the community and so I don't put a lot of these kinds of rules. I did have for this one resteem as a rule since I don't have a large enough audience.

My First Steemit Contest | A 2018 Vision Board | 8 SBD up for grabs

So there it was my first contest and I explained how to make a visionboard as well as shared mine. It made me pause and think what I wanted to be a reality for my 2018. It gave me purpose for what I wanted to do. I promoted it on a few communities I was in and expecting not a lot of entries because it entails more than a little work in listing, choosing images and consolidating it in their preferred medium. I would be lucky to even get five entries.

I woke up to congratulations from people. My messenger was bombarded by messages that said I was curied. At this point, I don't even know what @curie was.

When I opened the post It was over 250 in value and over 150 votes in. I was in trending for the tag of contest and people were seeing my Visionboard contest and leaving comments that they would join.

It remains one of the highest earning post that I have and most number of interactions. I also finished with 15 wonderful entries that embraced the spirit of the task and set out to create their visionboard with very doable goals.

One even said that it changed her outlook and made her look forward to 2018 with a little bit more hope. That was the best thing that I could hope for. To inspire people to see the future with hope. It was a way to give back to the community who have graciously supported me through my darkness and helped me step back into the light.

@futurethinker was the one that submitted my post and he always downplays the extraordinary thing that he did for me then. I didn't know him at that time but he would be instrumental in the change in me.

I saw that Steemit through getting that curie vote was life-changing. It made me realize that instead of being selfish and thinking only about myself that it was better to look outward and support people. It changed my perception of my purpose in Steemit. Sure to earn would be great but touching lives and making a difference in someone matters more. It made me embrace a pay-it-forward mentality which made me the person I am here in Steemit.

So who am I now in Steemit? Well, I am still a redfish but involved in community building and engagement.

I am part of the @promo-mentors movement by @futurethinker although I invited myself to that group and was not scouted. I work as both as a scout and moderator in that community looking for new steemians who needs a little mentoring.

I am also part of @newbieresteemday by @davemccoy who welcome new people and answer any questions that they may have with Steem,

I am in the top 10 of @abh12345 The Curation and Engagement Leagues - Sponsored by @carlgnash and @paulag!

Giving away over 800 votes which most of them are manual votes through posts, comments, and replies I have made while reading some of the people that add value to the Steem blockchain.

All of these was possible because one day in December @curie found my post and set me on the path I have today. That upvote made it possible for me to leash my first SP delegation that would help me spread my vote and give comments to those that need it.

I would like to think that curie had this butterfly effect that ripples outward as people become more grateful and embrace a more giving attitude. That curie vote not only saved me but possibly saved more lives that I have touched afterward.

So when I received a call for delegations from curie A call for delegation I did not hesitate for a moment and delegated all that I could send to them. It is not much as I am just merely a redfish but I am a redfish that cares enough to see that it continues to find and support undervalued authors who write exceptional posts that enriches the quality and value of the Steem Blockchain.

If Steem Inc. doesn't see the value of curation guilds like Curie and OCD let our support prove them wrong. Delegate SP that you can afford to send, vote for Curie as a witness and help them get back to the top 20. Even if our vote is just 1 Mega Vest or lower but with enough numbers, we can make a difference.

So you have not received a curie vote so you they have no use for you? Or you have received a curie vote but don't feel to be obligated to vote for them. It is your choice but don't think what Curie can or have done for you but think of what Curie stands for.

It stands for exceptional quality posts that cover most tags except Steemit, religious and political posts. It finds these posts and rewards them and should be the ones trending because it shows some pretty awesome articles that leave you speechless.

Maybe that next Curie vote would save someone's life as it did mine. That I think is beautiful.

I support @steemfreelancers

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