December is here and 2019 is only a bit more than three weeks away. I don't usually like the whole idea of thinking too much into the future, but for the last 11 days Scorum has been a really positive thing that has come into my life. The people here are beyond welcoming and any feedback I have gotten has been extremely positive and encouraging. That has had me thinking about some goals going forward into the new year for myself personally and on this platform. I don't really like the term resolution because I usually end up giving up on those by the time January 3rd rolls around. I feel if I use the term goals, I may stand a fighting chance on sticking it out. Fingers crossed. Let's get into it, shall we?

I will learn to accept things I can't change

I'm not going to sit here and make this a bash fest. As a matter of fact, I will refer to where I was blogging before this as the prior platform. I started on the prior platform in August of 2017 and yes, it was great. I'm sure others of you here who were blogging on the other platform could agree it was pretty dope in the beginning. I was making decent money and had joined some discord communities that supported helping others to build themselves up and establish a name for themselves within the community. However, about six months into it, I guess I became too close to these people and had a front row seat to the greed and destruction their "helpful communities" were causing the people who trusted them the most. The problem with that was I was becoming too emotionally involved in things I should have simply walked away from. I surrounded myself with toxicity for too long thinking people and circumstances would change. Instead of saying to myself, "well hey, you can't fix these problems and how people act," I let it drain me. I became frustrated and ended up walking away stressed out beyond belief. I am glad this community is completely on the opposite end of that, but in any good thing there is a chance of a stray person with bad intentions finding their way. If I did happen to run into an old face or a new one with those type of behaviors, I have to remember for the future to stay positive, avoid that negativity and take hold of what I am trying to achieve. I can't and won't allow it. Period.

I refuse to burn myself out

I know, some people on here will probably say they're going to post everyday and write the best posts possible. Well, that's not me and I can't pretend it is. I've learned this the hard way. As much as I would love to be able to bang out a post everyday, it's just not realistic and I would be lying to myself. We've all heard the saying "quality not quantity" and I truly believe that. I can promise you if I try to post every single day writing long articles, I am either going to go crazy or it's going to be straight up garbage. I did this in the beginning on the prior platform and it was not fun. I would spend hours everyday writing then rewriting then posting. Some days I would sit there and think what the hell am I doing? I was stressed out over trying to keep up with daily posting and it usually ends up backfiring. I get stressed, I have a burn out, I get writers block, and then I end up slowly going longer and longer between posts. I'd rather write when I have something worth while and not put myself on a pressured daily schedule. Not to mention, I have two 9 year olds that are extremely demanding so yeah, enough said.

Making friends on Scorum and truly being kind

I want to continue meeting great people on Scorum. In the last little 11 days since I have started, I would have never imagined that Scorum was going to be this open and welcoming to me. I'm not trying to be all emotional, but it's true. I don't even know a fraction of you yet, but those I have had even some basic interaction with have been just positive people offering help and trying to help me get my name out there. They don't have to do that. They are under no obligation to care at all about what help I need, but they have been helping. I have seen so many contests on here offering people ways to get their posts seen. Literally right now @philnewton has nominated me for a contest @talesfrmthecrypt is running and @sports-frei also is running a positive initiative to help those below pro status get recognition. These are just overall good people. I can't wait to keep growing here in 2019 and meet many more of you. I have no doubt the longer I am here the more amazing people I will come across and once I have more of an influence I can give back the same way these guys are. I honestly believe the best way to make a community keep growing to the best of its potential is to show kindness, generosity, and compassion to one another instead of acting like we're always in a cut throat competition. This is why Scorum is and will continue to be successful.

Of course being happy and healthy

This kind of goes back to the stretching myself too thin and burn out comment I made earlier. Without health you can't be productive. I have illnesses that are here for life and that I can't change. However, I know in order to be successful here and in real life, I have to keep on doing the best I can for my body. To be honest, living in India for the past six months has helped me get rid of a lot of processed foods and has made being a vegetarian a lot easier. Yes, I'll be on here typing my fingers to the bone, but getting out and just feeling human for some time every day is a priority going forward. Also in 2019 keeping stress to a minimum is a must. There will always be drama in life, that goes without saying. It's just sometimes you need to know what drama is worth trying to sort out and what drama is easier to stay far away from.

So my fellow community members, from me to all of you, here's to an awesome 2019 and a successful Scorum community. Cheers!