The Roller Coaster Ride Of 2022

As the year end is near, I've been thinking about writing a post on how I did this year, like I do every year. This thought has been in my mind for a week or two and have been reviewing my year to see what I've done, how I've done it and also, if I could have done it better or in a different way. I think this is the only way if you want to improve and get better at what you do. Without a proper analysis and plan to improve, there's a chance you will be repeating the same mistakes or walking the same path and expecting a different outcome. @galenkp had a post yesterday, that made me think about this again and this morning something has happened that speeded up the process of posting this blog.

In the previous years, these reviews have been mostly about account growth, but this year I'm not going to write about that. Financial analysis of my assets is extremely important, but only to me, not for the public. I'm doing that constantly as that's the only way, but I'm not going to bore you with it today.

Photo by Mats Hagwall on Unsplash

At this point I'm glad we live in the digital era and I can delete and rewrite any paragraph as many times as I like. Otherwise I would already be using my second notepad, while the floor would be full of used paper, that is how many times I tried to write what is coming next. I'm still not convinced it will make sense, or if things will be in chronological order, but I can't be bothered anymore, I'm just going to write what I have in mind. If you're brave enough, you'll read it anyway and I'll be grateful you did.

It's been a challenging and tiring year for me, but in a good way. With all the sh*t that has happened, I still say it was a good year.

Funny enough, I can't remember what I did in January and at the beginning of February. Most likely I carried on with my life, but if I can't remember anything specific, that means it was uneventful. Not good at all, but can't change that. Life has no BACK or DELETE button.

Then the war started next door, which was a huge wake-up call for me and most likely for millions of others too. Even though my country has a long border with Ukraine on both land and water, I've never been in a real danger so fat, but it still made me reevaluate my life and my future plans. This sh*t is not over yet and no one knows when or how it's going to end.

The first two weeks of the war I think I'll never going to forget. I was living with a headache each day and not due to being worried for myself, but for others. This was the period of time, when I and many others were working on helping those in need. Sleepless nights, talks behind the scenes, plans, failed plans, new plans and so on. This is how we spent our days. @galenkp talked about getting out of the comfort zone the other day and reading his post I was thinking ... what comfort zone as I've been out of it all year 😂

Jokes aside, even though it was a terrible period for everyone, for me it had a good side too. I met a few good people on Hive and I'm friends with them ever since. Life can be funny sometimes and when you're desperate, no measure or effort seems too big or too bold. I contacted a lot of people those days, people I don't even know on every possible platform. Most of them did not even reply (no hard feelings, I understand), but those few who could be bothered, helped me to do some good. It was a collective effort that brought amazing results.

Photo by Raimond Klavins on Unsplash

During this time, I met a Hive user (let's call her Lady X), who was also heavily involved in helping. We spent hours every day on Discord, sharing information and trying to put in contact those who needed help, with those who offered help. I didn't know her before and can't say I know her now either, but what she did and does worth any appreciation. After some time, things started to fall in place and even though the was was still on, the people we were trying to help were safe. They say a friend in need is a friend indeed, which sounds pretty cheesy, but in times like this, you can see the true meaning of it and you can also see who's your real friend and who isn't.

Due to too much screen time, I damaged my eyes and was living on eye drops for weeks. Then slowly my eyes got better and were fine for awhile. Then I damaged them again and had to start the process all over again. Lesson learn though as this is no joke.

Then I got covid 😂 Yeah, it's good to be able to laugh at it and even though I'm not proud of getting it, I'm proud of how I handled it. I was lucky to not be so sick as others and I'm proud I was able to continue working during it. It took some discipline and extra focus, but haven't lost a single day. I don't know if my immune system was so strong (I'd like to think it was) or I got the mild form of the virus, but I'm glad I did not have to suffer much.

Photo by Maria Teneva on Unsplash

The biggest challenge for me though has been self improvement and self discipline. I'm not a huge fan of these topics and don't like people preaching about them as 99% of these talks are sheer bullsh*t and only 1% is useful. The art in this is to find that 1% that is useful to you and be able to apply it in your life successfully.

Unfortunately we live in a toxic environment and toxicity can make a huge impact on your mental health and behavior too. Learning how to balance things is an art in my opinion and takes time. One of my goals this year has been not to become like them. This term might sound wrong or might look like nonsense, but it makes a lot of sense to me.

In my eyes everyone is an example, you just have to decide if it is a good example, or a bad one. Once it is decided, you know what to do. I'm not the worshiper type, to follow apparently successful people and you should not fall in that trap either. Instead I take what I think it would be good for me from people I think worth learning from and it works for me.

The crypto world is a very toxic one in general. A huge amount of discipline is needed if you want to make it. There are traps everywhere and you need all the self discipline you can get to reach your goals. I've had the pleasure and have been lucky to come across a few people who are not trying to sell you the next 1000x token or the best paid group offer that will make you the future billionaire, but they are sharing knowledge for free. Learning is everyone's responsibility and DYOR as well. This has been taking up much of my free time this year as well and I'm satisfied with the results so far. I think I have been able to balance things and make progress this year. The road is long and if you're smart, you learn till the end, because there's always something to learn.

Photo by Ralph (Ravi) Kayden on Unsplash

As I said earlier, something happened today that make me put together this post today. I mentioned earlier that I met Lady X when the war broke out and worked together to hep others. Even though I have never met her in real life, somehow I knew she's a remarkable woman. At the beginning of summer I needed help with an eBay purchase as the seller did not want to ship the item to my country. It wasn't a single case as it happens often for a good reason and that's when knowing people comes in handy as there's no way to circumvent that. So I asked Lady X if she could help me out, buy the item and then ship it to me. She said yes without any hesitation, after which we dealt with the financial part and it was done.

One nice day I got a text from the post office, that I can pick up a delivery next day. So I went to the post office to pick up what it should have been a light envelop, but I was given a box that barely fir in my backpack instead. If I would tell you that I was shocked, that would be an understatement. Instead of an envelope, I got a 2kg pack full of goodies and a nice card as well. I'm not the selfish type, so obviously I sent her a nice surprise too.

Since then we exchanged a couple of Discord messages and that was all. Till this morning, when I got notified by the post office that I have a parcel to pick up, which I did not know who it was from, but I got a message from Lady X an hour later, that a surprise is coming my way. Needless to say I was speechless. I don't know what's in the goodie bad, but whatever it is, I'm more than happy. It'll be the best Christmas present for me.

This year I had the pleasure to connect with a few good people, that give friendship a true meaning. For me, these are the true values worth collecting and keeping. I consider myself lucky for having them and I hope the feeling is mutual.

Photo by World of Magic on Unsplash

If I look back and try to find a keyword that would describe 2022 for me, I would say that would be help. I think I have learnt a lot and have grown as a person and would like to continue like this next year as well and do more and better if possible as there's always room for improvement. It's been a tiring year, but I'd say time well spent. I need to reflect on what needs to be improved and work on it.

This post is already as long as my arm and if you're still here, you're either an idiot or have nothing better to do, but either way, thank you for reading all this. It is highly appreciated.

If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:

• Communities Explained - Newbie Guide
• Cross Posting And Reposting Explained, Using PeakD
• Hive Is Not For Me
• How To Pump Your Reputation Fast - Newbie Guide
• Tips And Tricks & Useful Hive Tools For Newbies
• Community List And Why It Is Important To Post In The Right Community