❤️ How has Steemit Profoundly changed my Life? (Steemit Ultimate Challenge 8 Weeks - Week #4) ❤️

This topic "how has Steemit communication changed my life?" was presented by @dobartim in his #Steemitultimatechallenge, and it got me really excited to share my Steemit story with you all. So thank you @dobartim for holding such an awesome contest and for giving us a chance to share with our community and hopefully inspire others.

I joined Steemit May 2017, not having any clue to what I was getting myself into. I had no idea what anything was... words like "hardfork, whales, minnows, witness" were completely foreign to me and bizarre. I was thinking to myself... did I just enter La La land? Although, I was utterly confused, I stuck around. After the first week of being on Steemit, I became addicted. It was fun for me to blog and share my ideas, and so at first it just became a fun hobby. Never in a million years, would I have guessed how Steemit changed my life and my path for 2018...

A month went by, and I soon discovered that Steemit, was much more than just a blogging site, it was a community site, where you could make real friends. One of my favorite all time authors is, @kaylinart, and when I stumbled upon her inspirational blogs I couldn't stop reading. I started to consume content like crazy, and interact with the community. I started to make friends.

I think my account is a true testament to what Steemit can do and become for people. I started with zero dollars invested, and slowly built my account through hard work and writing quality content. I've put 2k of my personal money after 5 months into Steemit. The rest, has been earned. With the help of some of my long term supporters, I was able to build up my account. Special thanks to @xaero1 @ramengirl @gtg @teamsteem @kevinwong @tamim @dtube @kpine @v4vapid @aggroed @creadordelfuturo @anomadsoul @kaylinart @charles1 @dobartim @stevenalexander @theaustrianguy @nanzo-scoop @acidyo @acromott for lifting me up. Even though I had little to nothing to give, they all willing gave with no expectation in return. Steemit is a tool that gives other people the opportunity to show kindness, give positive words of encouragement, and financially change someone's life for the better. Behind every success story, there is a village of people behind them.

About 6 months into blogging, Steemfest 2 was coming up. Due to budget, I wasn't planning on going... but then I won tickets from @blueorgy.. and I knew that I would find a way to make it happen. If there is a will, then there is a way! Attending Steemfest 2 was an eye opener and it really got the gears in my brain churning. That's when I started to see how Steemit could be used in "real life." I met so many amazing and wonderful people. During the festival, I was inspired by @surfermarly's talk about charity that was funded using Steem currency. It really got me thinking about how, Steemit could be used to touch the world around us.

Soon after Steemfest, I left my full time job, and became a full time blogger and dtuber on Steemit. I decided to take a leap of faith and pursue my dream of being a travel blogger. I've always wanted to travel the world, and share my personal stories with others. So, with a little bit of planning, I decided to travel the world with @acromott @ramengirl and @threebagsfull for 6 weeks. This incredible journey, allowed me to meet so many Steemanians from Thailand Korea and Japan. In total, I met over 50 new Steemanians in REAL life! WOW! Steemanians all around the word, took time to share their lives with us. Thank you @yoshiko for opening your home to us, cooking us dinner, and teaching us stain glass art. To @mayasiam and @earworm, thank you for taking the time to show us around Bangkok. Lastly, thank you @ramengirl for all of your love and support, I am so happy to call you my Korean sister! I don't know what I did to deserve such amazing company. I couldn't have asked for a better friend and tour guide around Asia. Soon I'll be meeting up with my "steemit crush" @teamsteem for a meet up in Canada! (you can bet on seeing some funny dtube videos with Mr. Teamsteem)

(here I am with @ramengirl and @mayasiam)

Traveling and earning money to fund my trips at the same time, would not have been possible without Steemit. Now that my account has grown a little, I am able to reach a wider audience. This left me to ponder the question, "how can I give back?" I believe that life is about paying it forward. I've had so much love and support from my friends on Steemit. Now it is my turn to give back.

Well, during my trip in Thailand, I visited an incredible non-profit called "Nature Reserve Forests." They were working to save the rainforest by planting over 1 million trees in the next year, while also saving elephants. It was my chance to test out my theory on ways to "give back." So I wrote a post, and all earnings on the post would be donated to help them adopt and save another elephant. To view this post click here. It felt so good to be able to share the story of this non profit, and to educate others about deforestation. And, what a success the post turned out to be! This post was actually my second highest payout of all time! WOW! It was so amazing to see my community come back once again to support and help out. I hope to have more projects like this in the future.

So, I know I just told you a long story about my Steemit journey. What was the question again... ahhh the question is "how has Steemit communication changed my life?" To summarize.

• Steemit has provided me an alternative way to make money and to continue to pursue the thing I love most, making genuine connections with people all around the world
• Steemit has given me incredible friendships that I will be forever grateful to have
• Steemit has given me a voice to be heard, so I can tell my story
• Steemit has given me the opportunity to give back to others
• Steemit has given me the ability to dream bigger

Sometimes I have to pinch myself and tell myself that my life is not a dream... Steemit is not a dream... this is real, and we all have the ability to use Steemit for the better, to empower others and ourselves.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

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love,
Karen