Wow, the end of 2021 is almost here this year has gone by in a blur for me. I have gotten involved in so many new things this year and being part of the hive community is one of them.

This is my submission for the Community Challenge: Name Your 2021 Hive Highlight! if you are interested you can follow that link for more details and submit your own hive highlight.

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Where To Begin

Where do I even start, this whole experience has been surreal for me joining in late August and mainly doing posts on Splinterlands, I would never expect to be where I am now. I have met some of the most incredible people here and have fallen in love with this place and blogging daily.

A massive thank you to the wonderful @clove71 for telling me about this platform back then and how I should get into it as another way to earn crypto and spread the word about Splinterlands. At first, it was about earning but it quickly changed from that to writing about what I love. Don't get me wrong the earning side of things on here is such a massive benefit and has helped me get by in these trying times. But I quickly learned that it is a very special place filled with wonderful people who want to help you and care about you and your success.

After about a month of posting on and off, I found out about hivefest through word of mouth in the community. I had no idea what this was but it sounded cool, after doing some research on it I found out it was a VR event hosted in altspace VR where the folks on hive could get together and meet and greet each other.

I quickly downloaded the app and signed up just in time as it was just a few short days away when I did find out about it. When the event started I was nervous to go in there and connect with everybody but I quickly got over it and dived in with both feet. I met up with @cmmndrbawang who is my twitch buddy and member of the #nosleepgang. We hit it off right off the bat and had an amazing time hanging out taking selfies.

It wasn't too long after that we started to see other members from hive that we saw in the community. Folks like @sgt-dan and @thebeardflex and other various members that are involved heavily on here. Not being shy at all(like I usually am) I started up conversations with these wonderful folks and they all gave me the time of day to talk to me and answer any questions I had. I never felt so heard in my life genuine people that wanted to connect and communicate.

I had such an amazing time watching all the presentations on the main stage sharing beers with everyone and networking in a way I never even imagined. I got to play the cards against humanity like game they have on there with some amazing people like @jarvie and @gtg. These were people I never expected to see but they were just like anybody else not too big to pay attention or hang out with the little minnows of hive.

It truly opened my eyes to what a wonderful and inviting place this was...after that I went from blogging here and there to really trying to improve my writing and blogging skills. I wanted to talk about so much I just didn't know-how as this was all so new but very exciting to me. So I continued on trying to write each and every day there was still a lot of times where I didn't get a post out for that day but it was all learning and improving each and every time.

Now jump to today December 12,2021 and I have had 4 straight weeks of posting been engaged in wonderful projects and communities like #wednesdaywalk and #pypt and have never been happier in my life. Honestly, this community has uplifted my spirits and made me feel part of something so special I can never repay my eternal gratitude to all the folks here that have helped me out and made me feel so welcome.

So What's My Highlight

It would have to be finding out about this platform as a whole but mainly getting to attend hivefest. That really took my interest to new heights from just wanting to blog and earn crypto to being part of an amazing and growing community. Finding out about some of the amazing artists and musicians on here to just sharing in others wonderful stories. There is so much hive has to offer and I'm learning more and more every day I'm on here.

I'm ecstatic for how far I have come and how much it has helped me not only financially but also mentally. Going through one of the worst times in my life before joining the Splinterlands and hive community I was headed down a deep dark path with no signs of recovering. Losing my motivation for life and happiness being in constant self-pity I was ready to just give up entirely...But thankfully I found something so bright and beautiful and haven't looked back since. I left my old self behind and began this new and happy journey in my life and it is all thanks to you guys.

From the bottom of my heart, I can't thank you all enough for how much of an impact you have had on my life. You have made me learn to smile again and I look forward to waking up and interacting with so many of you.