> And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane, by those who couldn't hear the music. - Friedrich Nietzsche

![ds0yoerywm.png](https://img.esteem.ws/ds0yoerywm.png)
@surfermarly in her natural habit

# What you see is what you get.
**I was happy that it was Lea @coruscate who nominated me for @anomadsoul's contest.**

If you don't want to spend days scrolling down one's blog, it's really hard to get the overall picture from someone who's been on Steem for a longer while.

Also - as the *older* users may confirm - we all get shaped by our experiences both on and off the chain, which is why our creative output evolves.

That's why I am especially happy that Eric launched the [CHALLENGE | GET TO KNOW ME](https://steemit.com/challenge/@anomadsoul/challenge-or-get-to-know-me-or-50-steem-in-prizes), encouraging us to select 10 blog posts that describe us and our path, helping the community to get in touch on a quite personal level.

> Not wanting to anticipate too much, you may learn from my today's selection that I'm a quite ambitious, adventurous, social, sometimes impulsive, life-affirming, open-minded and risk-taking person who enjoys celebrating other people's milestones as much as her own.

What you see is what you get: There's no difference between the @surfermarly you know from the internet and the one that enjoys catching waves.

## Let's go: These 10 stories may help you to get to know me (even better).

![0xmuvcsgku.png](https://img.esteem.ws/0xmuvcsgku.png)

### 1) My introduction post [July 24 2016]: [From city girl to surfer girl, steem your dreams!](https://steemit.com/liveyourdream/@surfermarly/from-city-girl-to-surfer-girl-steem-your-dreams)

You probably wouldn't find the article by yourself without knowing the exact title, since I didn't included the #introduceyourself tag.

Even though 29 months have passed since then, I probably wouldn't change a thing about this little opening. 

> The fact that I started out my journey telling people to *Steem their dreams*, really puts a huge smile on my face. You will see that I've been sticking with that vision ever since.

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![vhkl8he233.png](https://img.esteem.ws/vhkl8he233.png)

### 2) My breakthrough [December 5 2016]: [BLOCKCHAIN VS. BLOGCHAIN - Who are you, steemit?](https://steemit.com/steemit/@surfermarly/blockchain-vs-blogchain-who-are-you-steemit)

134 days after signing up to Steem I published an article that was supposed to become my *breakthrough* in the community. I had never received more attention before.

It taught me that, if you want to stand out, you need to get out of your comfort zone and probably even be a bit *cheeky* sometimes.

That part really cracked me up now:

> Does a new user (without any higher level IT background) even understand how all these complex voting systems work? Who the hell is a bot?

Haha, priceless.
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![dybil3r6ir.png](https://img.esteem.ws/dybil3r6ir.png)

### 3) Two in one: first time ever in New York and first Steem Meetup [June 14 2017]: [Steemit Connecting People: Meeting In New York](https://steemit.com/meetup/@surfermarly/steemit-connecting-people-meeting-in-new-york)

While waiting for our pizza to be served I asked a woman if she could take a photo from our group. We couldn't stop giggling and joking which apparently amused her. So it was Michael @hansikhouse who wholeheartedly proclaimed:

>### It's that we only know each other from the internet and today we meet for the first time in real life.

We - @dreemit, @andrarchy, @prufarchy, @hansikhouse and myself - broke into laughter. There was a bit of insanity in that statement, but we somehow loved it to be like that.

**It's been one of my favorite *steemy moments*, since it perfectly documents how intense relationships created on Steem can be.**

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![rhnjsav0rq.png](https://img.esteem.ws/rhnjsav0rq.png)

### 4) Playing Poker in Vegas - what a thrill! [June 24 2017]: [Lucky Girl Trying To Have Brain And Balls - Here's How I Won At The Poker Table Last Night](https://steemit.com/poker/@surfermarly/lucky-girl-trying-to-have-brain-and-balls-here-s-how-i-won-at-the-poker-table-last-night)

This capture is one of my favorites ever submitted to the chain.

Only thanks to my friend from highschool @knircky - who not only took the picture but also taught me how to play Texas Holdem at a Casino full of testosterone loaded guys with baseball caps 😎 - I was able to survive here.

**It was precisely at this table were I won §300 dollars with one golden hand.**

Honestly, it was all luck - haha! 

I was speculating on the River which is no wise strategy at all. Yet, it was the winning card in this specific case.

> That situation reveals my constant seek for adrenaline. I find pleasure in taking risks, even though I might be losing.

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### 5) Showing vulnerability & why I don't write blog posts in my mother tongue [July 1 2017]: [How I Got Rich On Steemit "Over Night" - Finally Revealing The Big Mystery](https://steemit.com/secret/@surfermarly/how-i-got-rich-on-steemit-over-night-finally-revealing-the-big-mystery)

Whenever I stumble upon this post I have mixed feelings. It definitely documents my first and only bad experience on Steem, while it also helped me to self-develop a lot.

*You only got supported for taking your cloth off*, is nothing any successful woman in the world should ever have to listen to.

However, today I know that it was a compliment: I wasn't an easy target for criticism, and this shabby statement was probably the only way to get me out of my shell.

I directly stepped into the trap and went all in on emotions as you can see in the article linked above.

One might think that I regret but I don't. Being hurt and feeling the need to vent one's anger is 100% human.

>### My zodiac sign is Cancer: We're extremely loyal people, as long as you don't let us down.

Now you know why I don't blog post in German anymore.

My first and last *crisis* on Steem was processed quickly, since I experienced a huge wave of support from the community. My [*goodbye Steemit* post](https://steemit.com/goodbye/@surfermarly/thank-you-steemit) (yes, I temporarily decided to leave) received more than 100 encouraging comments from people who wanted me to stay.

So I did.
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![wdd4k6ilic.png](https://img.esteem.ws/wdd4k6ilic.png)

### 6) Sticking with those who matter [July 24 2017]: [Here's What Happens When A Musician And A Surfergirl Meet On Steemit.com And Decide To Cooperate 🎧 ](https://steemit.com/video/@surfermarly/here-s-what-happens-when-a-musician-and-a-surfergirl-meet-on-steemit-com-and-decide-to-cooperate-community-project#@abh12345/re-surfermarly-here-s-what-happens-when-a-musician-and-a-surfergirl-meet-on-steemit-com-and-decide-to-cooperate-community-project-20170725t065928769z)

My most valuable takeaway in two and a half years on Steem?

> Stick with those who support you.

Accidentally running into Drew @drewsmusic - *your friendly local musician*, how he calls himself - has been a great stroke of fate and definitely changed the future route of my Steem journey.

What started as a conversation in a comment thread, ended up in a really nice internet friendship and even a brilliant video music cooperation.

*Drops of Summer* - the video presented in the article linked above, is surely one of my most elaborated videos ever submitted to the chain. 

It was shooted and edited during my little Steemit break, so I had plenty of time to live up my love to detail.

>### Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us. Thanks for being there, Drew!

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![x71sgmncsq.png](https://img.esteem.ws/x71sgmncsq.png)


### 7) Speaking at Steemfest and loving it! [November 2 2017]: [Insight Into My Today's Steemfest Presentation And Meeting The First Steemit Celebrities 📷](https://steemit.com/steemfest/@surfermarly/insight-into-my-today-s-steemfest-presentation-and-meeting-the-first-steemit-celebrities)

There may have been few days were I was more excited than on the 2nd of November 2017.

Speaking at Steemfest² @steemfest in Lisbon was surely one of my biggest challenges, but also one of my best experiences so far. I am not lying if I tell you that I didn't sleep the night before at all.

Actually I don't even want to go further, since my face on the picture is telling the whole story. Thanks for the capture @exploretraveler, and thanks for everybody who smiled back sitting in the audience.

>### What if I fall? Oh, and what if you fly?

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### 8) My first video interview given in a foreign language [February 2 2018]: [Steemit/dTube EXCLUSIVE Interview with @surfermarly, talked Steemit, life, charity, more](https://steemit.com/steemit/@davidpakman/5p49vrub)

I remember the day David Pakman @davidpakman asked me if he could interview me as if it was yesterday.

To date I hadn't been given any interviews in a foreign language, and the fact that I didn't even know what he was supposed to ask me, really brought me close to a heart attack.

My perfectionism is surely one of my weakpoints. I haven't ever been very good at the pareto principle, even though not being too good at it also brought me where I am today.

>### Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. - Vince Lombardi

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![yobwnr6u1e.png](https://img.esteem.ws/yobwnr6u1e.png)

### 9) Sharing my fortune with those who need it most [August 22 2018]: [When It Comes To Human Beings I'm Color-Blind * 🌈](https://steemit.com/statement/@surfermarly/when-it-comes-to-human-beings-i-m-color-blind-cab31c90e1888est)

It was back in summer 2017 when I launched my charity project @dreamsoftheocean on Steem. After one extremely successful year in the network I felt the need to *give something back* to those in the world who're not so fortunate.

'Dreams of the Ocean' raises funds in order to organize watersports activities for kids. We started out with surf lessons in September 2017 and continued doing swim trainings in August 2018.

**So far the project has been able to raise $3,000 USD in Steem. Besides that I donated 1,500 Steem by myself in order to finance the first event in 2017.**

Why did I chose such a title for my recent post about the project? 

On the last day of this year's event someone from our local community on Lanzarote told me that he was a bit upset since the funds from the charity hadn't been used to support local people from the island (Spanish people), but also kids with migration backgrounds, such as Arabs.

I was shocked to hear that and decided to to eternalize my feelings on the blockchain, without telling anybody about my inner motivation.

**How would I be able to do a *social* project, excluding kids with a migration background?!?**

>### Ultimately, we actually all belong to only one tribe, to Earthlings. - Jill Tarter 



### 10) *THE END* - Coming full circle building a house on Steem: [Dreams Are Paid With Steem - Turning My Greatest Wish Into Reality ▶️](https://steemit.com/dtube/@surfermarly/x2zm8s26)

First I wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to be completely open about my newly accomplished milestone, since there is always a fine line between sharing a success story in order to encourage and motivate others vs. waking up enviers.

Notice how story no. 5 has shaped my behavior after all.

In the end the decision to let the community know that I had just bought a piece of land with my Steem savings, turned out to be an incredibly lucky strike. 

The post became my most successful one of all time: position 3 on the *trending page*, without any bid bots being involved. But the best part of it was actually that I received more positive comments than ever before.

> It may have been a small step for you Johal @thejohalfiles upvoting me with 100%, but it was a giant leap for Marly :-)
 

## Final advice: Being yourself, having faith, sticking with the ones that love and support you and not letting others put you ever down, is surely a good strategy both on and off the blockchain.

As the rules of the contest imply, I'll be nominating three steemians to participate as follows:

@creatr, @cryptocurator and @pennsif

You definitely should get to know these three! 

See you on the block.

*Much love,* 
Marly - 
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![h8k8q6qssd.png](https://img.esteem.ws/h8k8q6qssd.png) 
This blog was created in July 2016, aiming to provide thought-provoking content for open-minded people who go on adventure, step out of comfort zones and embrace the new. 
**Thanks for being part of the journey!** 

![dpd4dhbnk4.png](https://img.esteem.ws/dpd4dhbnk4.png)

PS: All my blog posts are created and submitted via eSteem Surfer 1.1.12 - my favorite Steem desktop client that was developed by @good-karma's @esteemapp team. Check out their account for more information.

Original content.