WELL WELL WELL @edprivat, your  [Eternal Blockchain Challenge]( https://peakd.com/hive-193816/@edprivat/hxqyqxny) has certainly brought back many fond memories!

It was way too difficult to choose which one of my older-than-a-year blogs to review, so I took the easy route and chose the very first one, which was entitled:

[Hi **S**<sup>ierra</sup>**T**<sup>ango</sup>**E**<sup>cho</sup>**E**<sup>cho</sup>**M**<sup>ike</sup>**I**<sup>ndia</sup>**T**<sup>ango</sup> This is Lizelle from laid back city of Durban](https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@lizelle/hi-steemit-this-is-lizelle-from-laid-back-city-of-durban)

I joined soon after I'd been discarded by the corporate world as I'd reached my sell-by-date just over four years ago, so I laid my heart bare in that very first intro post... 

> *I’m super excited to be part of this community, feels like I’ve been living in the dark ages, so a big thank you to my son @deanoza for getting me up to speed with just how big the WorldWideWeb has become!
A quick intro; my husband Arthur & I live in a tranquil green valley in a suburb of Durban, with Mom Lily, both sons having fled the nest! About two years ago I realized my career as a Geographical Information Systems Technician was coming to an end at Ethekwini Municipality ☹ The hairs had turned grey, some of my body parts could do with an overhaul, but my spirit still feels young, so sitting around, doing nothing certainly was not for me!
@deanoza, urged me to consider hosting through Airbnb, as we have the space and both Arthur and I love meeting new people, I love cooking plus the bonus of supplementing our income now that the corporate world no longer supplies us with a monthly salary cheque, made this venture very appealing!*

Our little airbnb soon turned into a full-time registered business with many satisfied returning guests booking directly with us, so I became *semi-retired!*

![Nils Pelle.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/lizelle/23uQpCbBLdNY4ba7SPrbhvrsRqNR2gi31fp5q6S8ZK2eBmdvyTu8sdrbpP1RryLebAYGF.jpg)

### The Learning Curve
My growth was slow in the beginning as the old platform did not have communities that look out and help newcomers, although I met kindred spirits and some awesome curators along the way who did help!

As my time is limited it's taken a little longer to learn some of the blogging tricks, but I am more than happy with my success so far and super thankful to everyone who has helped me on this journey! 

One thing that I've learnt is to write from the heart and find one's niche; I enjoy cooking, baking, traveling, health and a host of other interests, so that's what I blog about. 
Writing certainly has helped me focus when the world gets too much so I write about things I really enjoy, ~~avoiding troublesome issues~~, especially since last year.
   
My son told me time and time again that one thing I must never forget is to be patient when it comes to the world of Crypto and rather HODL, which I did, until our income dried up, but I'll tell you a little about that later! 

### My mistakes
***Where did I go wrong?***

For starters, I should have gotten to know some of my fellow bloggers first before diving in head-first and writing that intro-post which earned all of $0.28, BUT it generated 53 encouraging interactions which was really exciting!

I however made the mistake in the beginning of simply hitting the follow button each time someone commented on any blog of mine!

It took quite some time to clean up that list later; something I have to relook again as there are some people that I follow but are no longer active here on Hive.

### What makes me cringe?

***Comments like this:***
>I have upvoted your post I will follow your account, please follow me back.


***And the worst part is that I fell for it in the beginning!!!!***

### Some good old belly laughs
***Take a read for yourself [HERE](https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@lizelle/hi-steemit-this-is-lizelle-from-laid-back-city-of-durban)...***
> *But, before I tell you just how exciting this has been for us, I must tell you a little story about my teenage years when I was so in awe of the funky fashions and icons of the 60s; Mini & Midi Skirts, Bell bottoms, John Lennon glasses, Hippies, the Beatles, Twiggy and more.* 😊


![RD April 100 word story winner_300dpi.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/lizelle/23wMq92ZUsJ2CQmXmoYMZfQ3bBTiPYVBzmRKZnzQACS54j89UFXF7GoahtKimeZV4Zvtu.jpg)

I was reminded of one real fun bnb booking we had when I read that intro post again; the one guest and I had many chuckles during their stay...
> *Guests wanting to escape pesky visitors, booked with us after telling the visitors that they would be out of town so could not host them, and had a gloriously tranquil time with us. No dirty laundry, mounds of dishes and house full of beach sand. BTW this often happens when you live close to the popular Durban beaches, and as we all know, some visitors are an absolute pleasure to have, but some are like smelly socks, cannot wait to throw them out.* 😊 

### Starting the Silver Bloggers Community
I was prompted by @riverflows who saw a gap in the Hive market where there are many well-seasoned bloggers, either pre or post-retirement, and so the Silver Bloggers was born.
We now welcome younger folk with *old souls* as well, and the Crypto HODLERS who can teach us a thing or two!
 
Anyone notice the awful error in that intro blog when I said the hairs had turned grey? Humpph!!! 
It's silver as all my friends in the Silver Bloggers Community know; that's why everyone knows me as *Silver-Blond Lizzie* over there LOL!

![Silvers narrow strip.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/lizelle/23ynhHDUt88ehBR4HeeS9DhTe9puVKwPjj697hsYe8TBNemHDi3nHd2NTsgRZyFer1sMa.JPG)

### Hive Earnings
When I started blogging here I didn't care about the earnings as I initially did not understand the concept of Crypto, kind of considered it *play money*, believe it or not! 
Little did I realize that Hive would one day save the day when Covid lockdowns happened and our bnb earnings dried up during a draconian lockdown for around 12 weeks!

### Last words
***There are way too many people that I have to thank, but all credit to my son who introduced me, even though he stopped blogging a long time ago!***

Interesting to see if anyone who commented on that four year old intro post are still active, and I saw a comment from the amazing @appreciator who supports many newbies as well as @sumatranate who I have not bumped into for a while, but is still very active.

# 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓗𝓲𝓿𝓮!

![Hive animated divider 1.gif](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/lizelle/23t7BP4XRfMT6kofwQUkKEjrLxqVT8U1YbpZcYyM38ss1dfxcMcMbdsLsh8idanFymmiC.gif)


I would love it if @carolynstahl and @fionasfavourites join this super challenge: 

**The concept is simple as our super cool Frenchman @edprivat explained in his [BLOG](https://peakd.com/hive-193816/@edprivat/hxqyqxny):**
> * Find one of your first post on the blockchain, or a memory that you cherish here that is at least one year old.
> * Review it, react to it on video if you want. Tell us what changed since the post, share also your improvments, your aspirations, and what makes you cringe :D
> * Post it on Hive and nominate 2 persons.
> * You can add the "#" with #eternalblockchain so we can find it easily
> * You don't have to be nominated to participate

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