Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities. - Sugar Ray Leonard

A long time the 'American Dream' was the epitome of equal and unlimited opportunity - not only in the United States of America.

There was this spark of hope that one could rise from rags to riches, only needing to be in the right spot at the right time.

Now the world we're living in has changed, and it seems as if the chance to live that one dream had narrowed: The transformation of the American Dream is how the New York Times headlined it lately, while the Washington Post publishing Portraits of the fading American Dream as a photography series. The message is always the same.

Today the man on the street has basically few possibilities to ever achieve a real breakthrough. If you're not born into a favorable environment, it'll be tough to ever play in the upper league.

Yet, that idea of world where anything was possible, is still alive.

It can be found inthe new world , and one gateway to this place of unlimited opportunities is steemit.com. After reading this article you'll probably want to become part of it!

Picture kindly provided by pixabay.com

Welcome to the new world!

If you ask people to briefly describe what steemit.com is about, then you'll probably get a hundred different answers.

They'll range from social network over blogging platform and blockchain community to crypto forum - and interestingly all these definitions would be totally correct.

Whether you're an author, an artist, a filmmaker, a traveler, a scientist, a journalist, a sportsman, a mother or simply a curious person who loves to learn, connect with people and broaden one's horizon: You'd always be able to love this place which is actually able to change your life forever.

Steemit.com is what you make of it - it's as customizable as dreams can be.

Even though there are infinite definitions for what steemit.com actually is, there's only one truth about its underlying functionality.

You don't need to be a computer scientist to understand the fundamental idea of blockchain technology, but those who want to be able to make a difference using it, definitely need to know their working tools given.

When people want to quickly explain the core idea of Steemit's eco-system to someone else, they tend to say that:

It's like Facebook, but you get rewarded for your postings. The more 'likes' you get, the more income you generate.

Well Steemit.com is actually not the next Facebook, it's much more than that! And I'll tell you why.

The Steem 101 for blockchain newbies in 10 steps:

There's much more to learn, but here are at least some basic facts.

1. Steemit.com is a tokenized social network that is run on the Steem blockchain.
2. The vision of Steem is to give value back to those who create value.
3. That's why users are rewarded for their social interaction with Steem tokens.
4. Blockchain technology is one of the most advanced technologies in the world; it's a protocol that enables the decentralized data management.
5. The Steem blockchain and steemit.com were created by the company Steemit, Inc.
6. The founder of Steem and CEO of Steemit, Inc is Ned Scott (on Steem: @ned).
7. The servers to maintain the blockchain are located worldwide and hosted by witnesses.
8. Witnesses are elected in a democratic process by the members of the Steem community.
9. Influence in the network can be both achieved through 'proof of stake' (investment of money) and 'proof of brain' (investment of time).
10. Rewards - paid in the cryptocurrency Steem - can be earned in multiple ways, the easiest one is to create and upvote content.

Steem is often called 'the no. 1 gateway cryptocurrency'. That's because of the playful way non-crypto people are able to get in touch with digital money for the very first time.

Every Steem account has their own wallet where the owner controls any type of transactions to and from the account as well as its keys (passwords). From the wallet you're able to transfer Steem to any other account within a few seconds (peer-to-peer).

As always in life: theory is far from practice, yet both are evident if you want to do things right.

Blockchain technology is very real. The only way to demistify it, is to get your hands dirty and start discovering. - Rob Dielemanns, Managing Director GoDataDriven

Practice makes perfect, and you'll need patience and consistency to come to the top. On steemit.com it's like in any other business: Those things that are worth having usually don't come easy.

The re in rewards has a meaning: The more you contribute, the bigger your own return. The more you engage with others, the merrier for your own reputation and growth. The more you help others in rising, the faster your own advancement.

Steem is a long term project and not a money making mashine that guarantees you immediate return.

Now the new world is no different from the old one in this point: Be the first one in having the idea!

Steemit.com is a think tank, and people are rewarded for their (outstanding) ideas

It's as simple as that.

Members of Steem are rewarded for their ideas. The more innovative, groundbreaking and useful the idea, the more recognized - and financially rewarded - by the community.

And here's were the equality in opportunity of that 'new American Dream' lies.

An idea can be a million things: a thought, a picture, a narrative, a painting, a news article,... you name it!

Everybody is good at something: What is it where you're standing out?

On steemit.com content and members are organized in sub-communities, so you'd actually behave exactly as you'd do in a real life scenario: You follow like-minded people and that way quickly discover your own niche.

Members of the Steem community actually love to build bridges between real and virtual life. While the official annual Steem conference - called @Steemfest and hosted by the amazing @roelandp - takes place only once per year, steemians - as we call ourselves - enjoy organizing meetups all over the world at any time.

Not only one day passes without a steemy get together somewhere in the world.

We want to actively build and participate in that new world, and that's our common denominator.

@surfermarly (middle) at a Steem Meetup in New York, June 2017 with @hansikhouse, @dreemit, @andarchy and @prufarchy (left to right)

We're all dreaming of change

Decentralized systems will not only revolutionize the internet, but whole industries and markets worldwide. Actually this is already taking place.

On an end-consumer level, these concepts are especially designed to give power back to the people, and enable us to control, transfer and store our own assets autonomously, fast and securely.

They're the answer to corrupt centralized organizations, flawed financial systems and fake democratic structures. But they're also an opportunity to create and distribute wealth in a more fair and even manner.

Hence, besides the technological process, there's a strong ideology behind inventions such as Steem, and that's what you can perceive whenever you get in touch with other people of the same network. There's that desire for a different world - one where we're all given with equality of opportunity again.

It's a world where that 'American Dream' - as a global symbol of chance - is able to florish. That one dream which is sleeping inside all of us will finally find its way.

Steem has changed the lives of many people since its launch, and it can change yours as well.

@surfermarly and @heiditravels surfing during Steemfest² in Portugal, November 2017

Social engagement is now valuable in a monetary sense.

Even though Steemit.com is a digital (virtual) world, the impact is real - and global.

People from all over the world come together at one place to connect, interact, exchange ideas and create sustainable value.

Steem is as real as the following - my favourite - steemy anecdote:

The New York Steemit Meet-up I attended to last summer (picture above), started at a pizza restaurant. @hansikhouse gave his mobile phone to a woman next to him, excitedly asking her to take a picture of the whole group. He handed the camera over and said from the bottom of his heart:

We're so excited! It's that we're internet friends meeting for the very first time in real life today!

While the photographer looked astonished from one excited face to the next, we just broke into laugther.

If you've ever been to a Steem meetup, you'll understand the hype.

Now you're kindly invited to become a winner.

The American Dream still exists.

See you in the new world!

Much love,
Marly -

PS: This article is my entry for the welcometosteemit competition raised by @abh12345. Side note: If I won the competition, I'd give away the promised delegation to a newer member of the Steem community.

Thanks for your valuable time!
This blog was launched at the end of July 2016
aiming to provide stories for open-minded
people who enjoy living on the edge of their lives,
stepping out of comfort zones, going on adventure,
doing extreme sports and embracing the new.
Welcome to the too-much-energy-blog!

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Original content. Quotes found on quotefancy.com.