Within 4 years of understanding bitcoin, I've gone from dipping my toe in the water to full-on rabid maxi with 0 fiat who lives, breathes, and works in bitcoin.
I would also eat it if I could (but I prefer crisps).
However, my low time preference and my knowledge of the impending soverign debt crisis leads me to feel down on a daily basis.
I'm not dedicating my life to this to get rich. Hell, I don't even really want to buy anything (apart from crisps).
When the monetary crisis ramps up, people won't thank me. They will think I'm a smug asshole because I waxed lyrical about bitcoin.
I'm not sure I'll live to see the world prospering on a bitcoin standard.
And most days, I dedicate my hours to writing into the void.
This is perhaps why I, like many bitcoiners, enjoy the echo chamber a little too much.
Still, I'm interested to know.
What keeps you grounded and positive?
I focus on what I have. A roof over my head, food on my table, friends and family around me, and a clearer understanding of the world than those around me (which I think most bitcoiners do to some extent.)
Good points.
Of course, I am grateful for my place in the world too.
I guess before bitcoin, I rejected the rat race and focused on travel and writing fiction. Those both gave me a lot of drive and positivity, but they occupy less of my time now.
One of my favorite questions for sparking conversation beyond simply yapping about "crypto" has always been, "before Bitcoin clicked for you, would you have agreed that 'money is the root of all evil'?"
just to clarify my own position: I think Bitcoin makes the costs and incentives around financial systems much more obvious than they are with the fiat shell game. I don't think Bitcoin is a magic bullet for solving any of the problems that are more fundamental to humanity societies or biological phenomena in general.
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Oh... I have some thoughts on this. Can't say I've mastered it, still struggling. But I'm keeping my head above the water.
A couple of specific examples on SN:
#849565 , #1201227, #1199245
And basically both chapter 9 & chapter 15 of my book deal with such issues, i.e.:
Things outside bitcoin proper. I have kids, they do a pretty good job of keeping me grounded. Also, I'm a sucker for good stories. Thinking about stories I want to write (even if I'm not making that much progress on them) is ever energizing to me.
Good to hear, man. Reading fiction is a great activity too.
The problem is those bitcoin articles and books keep calling, haha.
I struggle to write fiction these days because I worry about the outlet and distribution. I think when I am truly free, I'll be able to write stories for myself only.
I solve that outlet and distribution worry with delusions of grandeur. hasn't failed me yet.
Stories that you find yourself inherently motivated to develop and write are at some level purer than stories that you write for specific audiences to convey some message, which could cynically be considered some form of propaganda.
I realise that word has negative connotations, especially among folks who aren't enamored with the most famous propagandists, fiat governments; however, when thinking through my own disorganized heap of leftover ideas from the years since first "leaving home", I've found that my internal critic is much better organised when I think of any potential literary effort as on some level being propaganda that delivers some message to an audience.
go outside (in the sun), touch grass (ground urself); this shud become one of the most powerful bitcoin memes, in order to bridge the digital and the physical;
go outside, touch grass;
#1244802
I have a delusional sense of optimism and hope. I literally ate two cheeseburgers out of the trash the other day and I still feel like I’m winning.
Without Bitcoin and Nostr, I would have a very hard time staying positive.
The echo chamber is helpful but I prefer the fringes. Orange and purple pilling people who are already asking questions. Seeing them turn towards the light.
It doesn't happen every day. Or every week. But when it does happen, I know I've made a difference. The world is a slightly better place. I have fulfilled my role.
Great point. I am doing more advocacy nowadays and people often ask me questions.
I remember organising a 5km running race for work and a few sales reps joined in for theur first ever race. One of them now wins triatholons in her age category, and another has his own running apparel business. Not all due to me, but it feels positive to have given them a nudge!
I keep a Happiness Journal and write one good thing that happen to me on that day. Then I post it on Stacker Saloon to maybe get some sats and a good dose of dopamine haba
I watch a movie, a good one and I'm all set to fight anything
Taking more care of myself is helping lately, after a few months in the gym I start to feel much better. But yet on friday and weekends I still feel bad and lonely, unless I am with libertarian friends the only creatures I can get well with.
Yep. Gym is a great help. I'm going today.
Totally. My god, the darkness, the mind-numbing nihilism... Yeah, don't blame yah
As soon as we have bitcoin themed coworking spaces, we will all be chest bumping and singing meme songs together...
Coming soon. Surely...
What's there to be negative about?
Debt crisis is a good thing, a reset, accelerate.
Rejoice in the fact that external validation not only unnecessary, but often counter-signal
Already is, your benchmark is wrong, it's already a battery for fiat open to anyone who decides to use it
More external validation, fact is Bitcoin is typically the only thing bitcoiners have at-best half-right, but even Bitcoiners still don't see the full picture... Bozos everywhere
Every day is awash in opportunity
Guess I'm wrong about everything.
Wow, I feel a great similarity with your thoughts, and although we will not live to see the new world that Bitcoin will create, I remain positive because I know that I am breaking the chains of state money, chains to which my family was bound for generations before mine. Knowing that I will be able to enjoy some freedom before I die and knowing that I am forging freedom for my children, both mentally and in their wallets, keeps me positive on a daily basis. And I try to continue accumulating Bitcoin, without spending unnecessarily.
I don't recommend drawing your positivity from some external source; you then become dependent on it for your positivity. e.g. If music is your happy place, does going deaf or getting tinnitus terminally ruin your mood?
Remaining "grounded" is probably a nice way of saying that you choose some attachments that you do consider worth making; and ideally, these should be ones that also help you find your positivity.
"I have learned to be content in whatever state I am. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Philippians 4:11-13
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