I am so excited to be introducing myself to this amazing platform, and the wonderful community created here.
I'm also very grateful to all the friends who have helped inspire me to get started here.

How I found Steemit

I was initially told about Steemit by my dear friend @JeffBerwick in 2016. Then learned more about it from @churdtzu in 2017, which is when I created my first account @geliqua... Unfortunately, I misplaced my password before I posted anything, so Steemit took a back-burner (pun intended) to everything else happening around me, until today.

My good friend @KennysKitchen has been such a beacon of information for a lot of new Steemians, like myself. He's been great at encouraging us to become more self-sufficient by getting involved on the Steemit platform. He offers many tips on how to use Steemit, as seen here in his series called Kenny's 2 minute Steemit Tips.

So here I am today, a renewed Steemian 😛

And here's my story...

A Traveler With Many Names

I've lived most of my life in Canada & Sweden, where they called me Gela. I've also lived in both South & Central America, and due to a mispronunciation of "Gela" in Spanish, they know me as Lala. Then there are those who meet me online, and know me by yet another name: Geliqua.

I'm a proud high school drop-out, and I live the life my dreams are made of.

I'm a teacher, a vegan chef, a detox consultant, and in love with learning new things.

By no means does this make me a finished product, or any better at this game of life than anyone else, and especially not what most people would call "lucky".

While reading this, please remember that if I can do these things, so can you - no matter your situation.

Activated Teacher

I changed my life when I chose to live. To truly live & to love all aspects of life.

For years I had been a well known activist in Stockholm, and had realized that most of us are already "anarchists" & "activists" by nature, just not always conscious of it. We can label it whatever we want, but it's in our nature to live freely. We are freedom-lovers from birth, and are constantly activating those we encounter.

So weekdays between 8am-4pm I'd be at my "day job" where I would be learning from the most magical beings on Earth, pre-"schooled children".

Then, between 6-9pm I'd hand out food to the houseless, go to protests, spread information online, or I would be chalking the streets with thought-provoking messages.

I started numerous March Against Monsanto organizations in Sweden, and was part of the network of activists who made it go international. Even after all that effort, I still didn't feel fulfilled. Screaming on the streets, and constantly focusing on how to "wake people up" was becoming energy consuming, and a redundant battle against the machine.

I wanted to be the example I was preaching about:
"Get back to nature. Grow your own food. Go back to basics & away from the system. Go off grid as much as you can. Don't waste your life working, invest your life in living..."

I daydreamed of & visualized how I would want to live, how my surroundings would look, what type of work would make me feel fulfilled, and all the facets of my future.
It was literally that simple.. because once my sights were set, everything started falling into place. Life was no longer happening to me, rather I began truly living and deliberately creating my own experience.

Within a few months, I quit my job as a teacher, took my life into my own hands by curing myself of Lyme disease. I healed myself with an organ-by-organ herbal detox, homemade CBD oil, a fruit cleanse, fasting, and urine therapy. Which proved to be a shock to the different doctors who kept prescribing me pharmaceutikills as a cure.

Once that was out of the way, I set out to fully live. Traveling the world was one of my many goals, and since Peru was calling, I chose to spread my wings & fly.

I headed off to Peru to volunteer at a friend's school/community center. I ran the school for a few months, which was a profound learning experience.
Since I didn't speak a word of Spanish at the time, most communication with the children was done though sensing each others' energy, acting out what we wanted to communicate, and LOTS of patience from them.

The school itself was up in the mountains, and below was the surf town where I lived, called Huanchaco.

Living in Huanchaco, I was bothered by the fact that even the vegetarian restaurants refused to serve vegan dishes... so life handed me my soul brother, Hector. Hector is a Colombian man who owns a large 6-floor restaurant on the beach, with his wife and two sweet sons.

He was expanding his restaurant by adding the 5th & 6th floors and another kitchen. Since there were no competitors and most surfers were looking for healthy food for vitality, I pitched him the idea of starting a vegan restaurant, and he agreed.

The deal was that I would open the restaurant, create the menu, and hire & train the long-term chef. I made it clear I wasn't staying or committing to anything, therefore I didn't have a boss. The investments & profits were all his, and in return, he built me an apartment in the building and I ate whatever I wanted from the kitchen.

He found it odd that I wanted to cut money out of my life, but at the time I wanted to see how useless and useful money could be. I was exploring my relationship with it, using my energy (innerchi) as my currency, and diminishing my "need" for money.

Coming up in part 2 of my Introduction:

• Anarchapulco 2016 (Acapulco), Mexico
• The Jungles and Hot Springs of Peru
• Living in Tarapoto

If my journey intrigues you, please up-vote this post and follow my blog so you don't miss anything :-)