It’s entirely our choice whether to see a world full of miracles, or a world full of pain and hate.

Both exist in almost infinite quantity in relation to the time we have here. We choose which to focus on.

I often struggle with imposter syndrome, feeling like what I’m working on in this space isn’t where I want it to be at, not satisfied with it, questioning what I’m doing, if it matters, if it’s recognized, why it’s not more supported, etc.

I know where this stems from, and certain traumas in my life. It then makes me angry at those experiences and reasons behind this. A spiral ensues, jealousy that other people may not struggle with this.

It’s why being online is sometimes too much for me. Why a few months ago I had to step back from the pod (not to mention Bitcoiners hurling personal attacks at me and blaming me for not “doing better” to advance Bitcoin with the left and blaming me for devs facing prison sentences…fuck the people who did that/accused me of that, I won’t forget). And many individuals and companies did nothing but pay lip service to our cause but not actual support our cause.

But I keep coming back to wanting to contribute, make a difference, leave my mark, fill the giant void that is Bitcoin for the left and fighting the haters from both sides. It’s such an incredible uphill battle in every single regard. I take one day at a time and try my best, doing so much behind the scenes. Taking one step forward and then 2 steps back some days it seems.

I’ll always keep it 💯 here #nostr. I wear my heart and mind on my sleeve. Some days I just want to disappear from any public work in the space. Other days I want to double down and do even more (I typically lean toward the latter). It’s hard for me to sit still. Some days, stillness is required.

What I do know is my nature is creative grind. It’s gravity sucking me in and pushing forward. And doing this authentically, taking every moment and opportunity I can. I have no real idea where it’s heading…but I hope and believe deep down it’s somewhere good.

Fuck the haters. As Kendrick says, “I deserve it all.” And sometimes, you have to embrace that mindset and know how incredible you really are.

☮️ 🤟🏻

This is a community note proposed to Anita's post, and I think we need to talk about it.

The past years have brought a swarm of new people into Bitcoin, and these posts and comments show how hard we failed them.

First off, to address the majority of commenters in Anita's post that also like to spam my posts with the same nonsense (and then tell me that I'm stupid because I have a vagina (?)), in the Bitcoin network, you do not get to vote for anything. Your node allows you to control the rules that your node runs by. That's it. That's all it does.

There is no voting in Bitcoin.

Second, miners run profit oriented businesses. This means that miners follow the rules adapted by the nodes with the majority of economic activity.

In the event of a hard fork, it does not matter how many nodes you run – if the majority of nodes generating profit for miners apply new rules, those are the rules the miners will follow.

Bitcoin positions do matter to the extent that they generate economic activity.

I understand that the voting analogy can be helpful, so here's one that you can make: in Bitcoin, you vote with your feet.

If a large exchange was to signal for, say, a Bitcoin compliance fork, you can threaten to pull your money out – to the extent that the exchange still allows you to.

Lastly, what Anita is referring to in her post is Bitcoin's social layer.

Bitcoin is run by humans, and humans can be influenced.

Humans can be influenced by setting positive incentives, such as gov subsidies or developer grants, or by applying violence, such as threatening to throw the people running and building Bitcoin in jail.

This is a reality of human nature and should not be controversial - How to prevent such actors from influencing open source development is often discussed in the open source community.

If this topic interests you, look up Operation Orchestra at FOSDEM.

Let's remember that the memes are not always your friends.

Influencers spent the past few years so focused on "hyperbitcoinization" that half-truths about how Bitcoin works are now taken at face value.

Because so many "Bitcoiners" now genuinely believe things like "Bitcoin can't be censored," "one node equals one vote", "Bitcoin is for enemies," or "everything is good for Bitcoin," we have created a culture that believes paying attention to the creation of an adversarial environment is unnecessary.

These memes are mental shortcuts. They are true to some extent, but do not reflect reality.

In the case of my posts, next to the obviously snarky comments here and there, the majority of commenters are not posting these things with bad intentions - they genuinely think that this is how Bitcoin works.

If you are an educator, influencer, or in any other way have the capacity to better explain these things to people, _please_ take the time to do so.

The memes are fine to get people interested, but we all need to do a better job at combating these misconceptions. The future of BTC could depend on it.

Op = orange piller = you

Op is projecting hard lol

Can’t relate to anything you said just now

I shall be eternally grateful if I’m right. nostr:note1uswpaxskdp0j87ded39gn8aseyxygu5l7pw2zfrusx6480v985jqz28e3v

Idk who needs to hear this, but you can just change your life.

You can move to a new area.

You can meet new people.

You can make different decisions.

You can stop being lazy.

You can start putting yourself out there.

You can get comfortable with failure.

Comfortable with growth.

You can start to see yourself differently

You can tell yourself a different story about who you are in the world.

You can do it today.

Right now.

In this moment.

You can just be a new person.

You’re under no obligation to be the person you were 10 minutes ago.

You can have a new life.

That sounds like relays didn’t get your address update. I would try it again and/or see if there’s a way to rebroadcast your profile details. I feel like there are some tools like that that will just blast out to a bunch of relays… 🤔

Gotcha i wasn't meaning there wasn't electricity involved specifically, but that it wasn't connected to the grid and breaker box, etc.

Pilot was on, but I thought the switch for the valve was electrical, found out it was a thermal switch just now. Had no idea, lol

Many east Germans believe they were better off before capitalist unification than they are today. The wealth and employment gap between those living in west vs east in todays Germany is significant. Capitalism today is more totalitarian than communism of yesteryear, and there is no greater example of that than the intense surveillance of the population by of the tech capitalists in the richest nations on earth. The Stasi could never have dreamed of the kind of survelillence power capitalism has given to corporations. Surveillance Capitalism is the most burtal and oppressive form of governance in existence. And its going to get much worse. Elon musks america is a fascist state worse than any 'communist' state that preceded it.

That sounds like relays didn’t get your address update. I would try it again and/or see if there’s a way to rebroadcast your profile details. I feel like there are some tools like that that will just blast out to a bunch of relays… 🤔

I honestly wish we could stay here for a few months just because the fiat math is so easy at ⚡1000 to $1

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. That's the EU. There are some things that are good. Mostly the technological/market standardizations that allow more efficiency. Stuff like a single plug, voltage for all EU, etc.

But these could all be achieved without the extra very heavy government that is the EU.

The EU is a not good thing for anyone. And this is coming from a Portuguese, Portugal is one of the countries that has received the most amount of money from EU.

This money only served to centralized the inequality and unproductivity. It's a complete mess. There are no free lunches nor shortcuts in an economy. Being poor is the natural state of humanity. There's no problem in being poor. The EU is a disease, like fiat is a disease.

But hey, this is just my opinion :)