The Power of Optimism

After years of listening to the addictive apocalyptic doom porn of fear-mongers such as Alex Jones and the Economic Collapse blog, my head started to fill up with voices of negative-reinforcement that encouraged me to give in to feelings of paralyzing fear, panic and paranoia. Spiraling downwards into a sense of helplessness and despair that only worsened my pre-existing anxiety and depression, I eventually reemerged with the realization that the Alex Jones crowd and similar doomsayers are in the business of making a profit from pessimism and doom, a strategy that offers no creative solutions such as Bitcoin and the Blockchain to remedy the very problems they claim will lead to an Orwellian world of hellish totalitarianism. In fact, they seem to actively avoid the discussion of any positive insights or solutions, which would likely upend their cash-making apple cart of doomsday-peddling.

I came to this realization at roughly the same time I stumbled across the existence of bitcoin for the first time, back in 2011. Bitcoin offered me a renewed sense of hope and excitement that I hadn't felt since I last volunteered for the Ron Paul campaign for the 2012 election. For the first time, I began to envision a path toward creating a free world of voluntary association without the need to get involved in politics at all. Markets alone could provide all the solutions that our endless and futile campaigning could not. I started going to hacktivist/makerspace meetings to network with techies and ask questions about this anarchic currency since I am a relative Luddite in all things computer-related. To my disappointment, the (mostly male) techies at this makerspace meeting laughed off my suggestion of creating a mining pool in our metropolitan era. I guess they regret that decision now, since Bitcoin ATMs have since popped up in the very neighborhood where they held their meetings.

Behold: the bitcoin ATM that popped up a few years later in a neighborhood tavern where the haughty makerspace group used to gather for some of their meetings. Guess it's my turn to laugh now.

Despite this initial pushback from the brotendo crowd, I never gave up hope with my bitcoin dream. I knew that eventually, through market competition and the creation of complimentary middleman financial services, I too could gain access to the world of crytocurrency without having to become a master of code or a member of an elite mining pool. And to my delight, the ever-evolving market of new products and services surrounding cryptocurrencies has far exceeded even my own highly idealistic expectations. All I had to do was sit back, wait, and watch as the opportunities came rolling in. What's even more amazing is that I stumbled across this new platform called Steemit while in the midst of a financial crisis that has left me with only $45 to my name. Long story short, this may be my saving grace from homelessness and living out of my car. Fingers crossed that I can produce enough high quality content quickly within the span of a week to cover my living expenses for this month.

In the midst of my most recent bout with pessimism - dealing with financial bankruptcy due to being slammed with extreme court costs ranging in the thousands of dollars for a mere rolling stop back in 2012 among many other flagrant abuses traffic court "law" - I happened to stumble upon this platform that offers a way out of my crisis, yet again renewing my optimism and faith in free markets as the solution to all my worldly woes. Right as I was about to hit rock-bottom with depression and a paralyzing sense of anxiety and helplessness in the face of a revenue generating racket that has destroyed the lives of thousands of Americans, I found this welcoming community of like-minded individuals just in time, who share similar stories of battling a system that seems obsessed with destroying our honest livelihoods at all costs. Call it cosmic serendipity or a mere stroke of good luck, or likelier yet, the product of networking for years within a community in relentless pursuit of shared ideals, I waltzed right into a solution for my crisis without having to search for it at all. It came to me.

Nonetheless, the optimist in me prefers to believe that this is a coincidence of supreme cosmic serendipity.

Never stop pursuing your dream and never give up on hope.