Welcome To My New, Decentralized Life

in #story6 years ago (edited)


The more I think about it, the more incomprehensible it becomes.

By “it” I mean my new life. I stepped away from my cubicle job almost exactly four months ago but it already seems like four years or, more accurately, a lifetime...I don’t mean in a bad way.

I feel like, little by little, I’m shedding all attachments to the old centralized world and existing more and more in a wonderful new decentralized one. I’m still finding my balance and am also struggling to remember what day of the week it is (one of the side-effects of living in the decentralized world.)

Like many others, for my entire adult life I was duped by the dark and dangerous charisma of centralization. I trusted that these people were smarter and more capable than me to decide my destiny. Those at the top of the pyramid dangled the carrots that were always kept just out of reach. Empty promises were sprinkled liberally and strategically as I worked harder, giving more of myself in the hope that I would be recognized and gain acceptance. The dangerous part of this is the years that slipped by before I saw through the charade.

I realize now how equally dangerous it was to hand so much of my personal power to another person or entity. You merely have to look at history to see how many horrible things have stemmed from this kind of misplaced trust.

After I found the strength to take that leap of faith and step away from that cubicle, the layers of brainwashing fell away one by one. I began to experience true freedom for the first time in my life. As I think back to the day I said my goodbyes to people I’d worked with for nearly a quarter century, October 13th, 2017 (Friday the 13th), there have been innumerable adjustments and realizations. The most prevalent was my revelation of how limiting and unfair that old life really was.

Now I work when on what I want, when I want, and I rest whenever I like. Since I’m suddenly not tied to a particular schedule I'm well-rested enough that my brain processes most of what I’m experiencing. I feel so much more fulfilled but since I’m out in the world during the time most people are at work I also feel like more of an observer of life.

I also notice now how frequently serendipitous moments occur. These are moments when “meaningful coincidences” happen. This is when the universe hands you the exact answer or lesson that you’ve been searching for at just the right time. It’s astonishing how often this happens throughout the course of a day when you’re able to pay attention. When you notice this it offers you a real short cut in your personal development.

It saddens me to see so people performing their daily routines like robots on autopilot. I was one of those people just four months ago, doing what I felt I needed to do to survive and keeping my dreams tucked away in my back pocket for “someday”. I woke up at 5:20am every weekday morning, showered, ate, drove to my parking lot, walked a mile to the building I worked in and spent nine or more hours of my day in a skyscraper working for someone else. At the end of the day, I had four hours left of my to decompress, socialize with friends and family, and try to find the time to work towards my real dream of writing.

My takeaway from years of experience in corporate America is this -- the employer pays just enough so the employees don’t walk away and, as a result, most employees work just hard enough so they don’t get fired. Unless you are in the upper echelon of management, high performance is rewarded, but the rewards often come in the form of more work and little else.

I just got back from three weeks of travel to work on a project that was born right here on Steemit, the HardFork Series. This project has grown like wildfire, beyond every expectation. It’s been a great example of what decentralization can do when applied to pretty much anything. I'm learning to let go of expectations and be more open to the possibilities of what could be.

After experiencing how much better life is in this decentralized world it’s my goal to help ferry more and more people over “to the other side”. I’m doing this by helping to educate others about cryptocurrency and blockchain whenever and however I can. Some people aren’t receptive, can’t grasp the concept, or don't want to put forth the effort to learn but I’ve made peace with the fact that not everyone is ready.

We aren’t meant put our dreams on hold or to toil away the best years of our lives for the benefit of a chosen few at the very top of the pyramid. We are meant have the time to discover the joy of our individual strengths and then apply those specific talents to fuel our own happiness and for the good of humanity. This is how our world will be saved.

Change is coming. Those who want freedom will have their chance to attain it. All it takes is an open mind and a willingness to do the work to make the transition from the old world to the new one...and it does require work. Don’t put it off until tomorrow. Learn all you can about cryptocurrency and blockchain, delve into it and then spread the word. Think about the ways you can apply this amazing technology to your individual passions. The future will arrive sooner than you think.

Yours in the Chain,

Eric

(Gifs sourced from Giphy.com.)

(Please Note: In an effort to combat spam/bot comments I will soon begin downvoting/flagging these types of comments in my post responses and muting users. Spamming is NOT the way to prosper on Steemit, creating interesting content is. These spam comments are negatively affecting this platform and I'm going to begin to do my part to help, I urge you all to do the same.)


Please follow our official Steemit account for the film series @hardfork-series. Did you miss our last post? If so CLICK HERE to read it!

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*I am an American novelist, poet, traveler, and crypto-enthusiast. If you’ve enjoyed my work please sign up for my author newsletter at my website. Newsletter subscribers will receive exclusive updates and special offers and your information will never be sold or shared.
My book on meditation, The Perfect Pause, is priced at $12.99 (paperback) and $4.99 (eBook). Buy the paperback and receive the eBook for free!

Connect with Me

www.ericvancewalton.net

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I get so frustrated trying to convince my family and friends to join me in this opportunity. They'd rather fly through life by the seat of there pants lol

I know how you feel, @cyberblock! This is one of the biggest frustrations. Then there are those who want to invest but want you to be their personal broker because they don't want to learn how the wallets and exchanges work. Lol. It can definitely be a double-edged sword. Most people simply don't want to put in the work.

Ya, I've dealt with a few of those type as well, so lazy lol

YES YES YES!!!

Congratulations and welcome!

It truly is priceless!

I would write on an on about how much better it is, how peaceful, restful and fulfilling but you just did that! LMAO!

May it continue to get better and better and may you inspire many others!

∞§∞Full Steem Ahead∞§∞

Thank you, Quinn! I feel pretty grandfatherly amongst all of these young people in the decentralized world but I'm glad I made it eventually. : )

I completely agree with decentralization is freedom.I believe sometimes change in life is really important. Things change , even people change. Things in life are going to change. Its not about the changes , its about how we react to these changes , we should accept these changes and understand things change for a reason and usually it's for the better.

(((applauds)))

Wow!

Nice to have you back posting again @ericvancewalton

WE R BOTH on the same pages...

"I feel so much more fulfilled but since I’m out in the world during the time most people are at work I also feel like more of an observer of life."

"After experiencing how much better life is in this decentralized world it’s my goal to help ferry more and more people over “to the other side”. I’m doing this by helping to educate others about cryptocurrency and blockchain whenever and however I can."

"Learn all you can about cryptocurrency and blockchain, delve into it and then spread the word. The future will arrive sooner than you think."

Welcome back Eric.

Keep STEEM N ON,
Frank

Resteem...

Thanks @cassidyandfranks! It felt good to take my time with this one. I'm glad you enjoyed it and hope you've been well.

Telling people to learn more about cryptocurrencies is obviously a great advice!

Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when he does not wish to sign his work. ~ Anatole France

One question, why did you downvote my last post?
https://steemit.com/django/@isnochys/django-pain

Abuse of the steemdev tag. Sorry about that. I'm trying to keep this tag as clean as possible and people just use tag willy nilly.

Just out of curiosity, why did you use this tag? Did you use it randomly or used it because this tag is well rewarded?

Because I wanted to use django and steem-python together.
And well, I thought, it would maybe attract some devs, to help me out a bit.
Not with rewards. Just hints, how to combine those 2 into one app.
Sorry, if I misused it.
Lesson learned.

What is a proper post topic to use this tag?
Do you think, my article is not related to steemdev?

Sorry I removed the flag. I go through the tag quite fast. I even stopped flagging post a couple days ago but it's making the tag useless the more people use it wrongly.

I gave it an upvote.

Thanks!
Much appreciated.

I am usually very careful with serious tags like steemdev. And the title and picture are very misleading:)

Coins and paper money are history. In the new reality, currency will consist of only digital series of letters and numbers, or 'cryptocurrency'. Soon, there will be no more banks. Blockhain is future.

I'm staring at the copy of the book that you sent me right now. You mention in it the struggle between having your day job and having your actual job writing. The reason I find it so interesting is because you mentioned in the book how much you would like to be able to leave your day job......... and now you have so that's really cool.

Of course, you're exactly right about getting paid just enough to not leave your job. Today I was berated and treated incredibly poorly at my job. The district manager comes in and throws his weight around as if he's some kind of super villain.

None of us can do anything about it because we all really rely on that paycheck.

Having said that, I really love cryptocurrency.

I think of you as someone who I want to follow in regards to how well you are doing. I really hope that at some point I'm able to leave my job just as you have and find some kind of success such the kind that you are finding.

It's always good to see you post.

Have a lovely evening my friend.

It was such a struggle @jeezzle but worth every effort. I spent a whole spring and summer (while working 60+ hours per week at the day job) writing that book for a small press, they decided not to put any resources behind the marketing of it so sales fell flat then they took it out of print.

I almost gave up at that point and threw in the towel. Thankfully I kept going but that experience drove home the point that traditional/centralized publishing wasn't the way to go and set the stage for me to publish Alarm Clock Dawn on Steemit and then self-publish The Perfect Pause.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience at work. It's so unfair how much power management wields and how freely they abuse it. The that I've learned is they're often they're the most unhappy of all the employees so they take it out on others.

I really feel like cryptocurrency will be the path to freedom for a lot of people. This next year should see some pretty amazing growth. I wish you luck on your path, my friend.

As always, thanks for stopping by and for your thoughtful comments.

Beautifully written yet again!It’s insane that the majority of people do work 9-10 hours a day, sleep 8 hours and have such little time to spend with their families and do something to realize their dreams.I’m more than happy to hear stories like yours, where by hard work and persistence now you have what you wished for a long time😊Cryptocurrency is just like an internet news back then, no one understood it but it took world by storm nevertheless.I can’t wait to watch your hardfork series, it will be awesome!Good luck to you🤗

Thank you so much, @damira! You're so right in your comparison between the internet and cryptocurrency. Both are having the same seismic effect on our culture!

Welcome🤗🙌

struggling to remember what day of the week it is

Ha, I can relate! Especially when travelling! I'm practicing being a digital nomad at the moment in Thailand - that time thing is not easy :D

It’s astonishing how often this happens throughout the course of a day when you’re able to pay attention. When you notice this it offers you a real short cut in your personal development.

This is so true! I never thought about it this way. It's also something you just don't know beforehand, that's why so many people are so scared to take that leap of faith you took.

I’ve made peace with the fact that not everyone is ready.

Yes, me, too. The longer it took us to be ready, the more compassion we have for others who are not ready yet. Because we've been there.

I loved this post. I will share this outside of Steemit :)

Hey @connecteconomy! I'm glad you connected with the post! A digital nomad is what I aspire to be, maybe between seasons of HardFork.

It's so true what you've said about compassion. I've learned that things typically happen for people when they're prepared for it. When someone isn't receptive this is typically what I tell myself, "It must not be their time."

Thanks for your support!

wonderful post Eric, I never tire of reading about real life changes resulting from steemit and the decentralized paradigm because we're all trying to figure out just how to bring this new system out of our computers and into our own walking and talking lives and this takes time, agility and inspiration. Thanks for being a great example and for sharing your journey, it's been so wonderful to witness it!

Thanks, Ruth! I appreciate your continued support. How are you readjusting to life back in Portland? We had so much fun traveling but were very thankful to get home and sleep in our own bed.

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