I love to read articles, posts and stories about how bitcoin changed someone’s life. And I’m not referring to the eventual monetary benefits. I’m talking about fundamental changes in behavior, attitude, expression, self reflection and in many instances, self improvement.

Self improvement? I thought bitcoin changed you?

It did. Truly. To me, bitcoin is a catalyst. And Webster has a naturally beautiful definition of catalyst:

Catalyst - noun; A substance that precipitates a process or event, especially without being involved in or changed by the consequences.

You see, this is the intrinsic quality of Bitcoin that sparks the beneficial changes many bitcoiners are experiencing. This is also an example of “bitcoin doesn’t care.” bitcoin is the catalyst of change that would have not otherwise occurred. It changes you, yet it goes on, unchanged.

My bitcoin journey began a long time ago.

I can only remember that the spot price of bitcoin was around $7,200.

After asking questions in one of the most negative, toxic chat rooms I’ve ever encountered, and getting made fun of for not knowing the first thing about bitcoin, I bought half a bitcoin for $3,400. Not long after, I moved several states over to accept a job position. With nothing else of value, I *cringe*, sold my bitcoin to finance my move.

Once I was settled in my new state and at my new job, I had all but forgotten about bitcoin. In hindsight, since I didn’t even know what I didn’t know about bitcoin, it was easy to forget about it.

Then it happened. I was ORANGE PILLED!

I was literally orange pilled by a complete stranger in the comment section of a post on a FB page about how to save money, create- and follow a budget, etc.

This stranger did a great job explaining bitcoin to me, and sent me directly to the whitepaper first. He then suggested I purchase and read The Bitcoin Standard.

MY ENTIRE WORLD CHANGED.

After reading The Bitcoin Standard, it became my life’s number one goal to not only buy bitcoin, but to change as many negative things about myself as I could humanly do. So #1 was dropping alcohol from my life, cold turkey after two decades of heavy drinking. Then I quit vaping, which I had used to quit cigarettes.

Then I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Ouch. Damned roadblocks.

A persistent force kept pushing me to move forward, upwards, onward. Even if it was only one small thing I changed. Each win built up momentum, so as I tackled harder and harder ‘issues of the self’, they were basically no more difficult to accomplish than the preceding ones. It’s all about momentum and consistency.

I changed my entire diet. This was hard. A lifetime of eating habits is NOT easy to change, even if it’s for the best. But I did it, because I wanted a better me. Two years later, my physician removed my diagnosis of diabetes and removed me from all related medications. I was also 75 pounds lighter than before. Proof that diet and exercise, over time, will outperform any medication the current medical establishment will push upon you.

The stranger from FB became a good acquaintance, and introduced me to hosted mining. I went all in and financed three S19 ASICS. Paid off two of them, then the company went under. They kept my ASICS and gave a lot of blah blah blah about the SEC.

The last roadblock on my journey to bitcoin was sadly myself. At the height of the last bull market, I took a full 50% collateralized loan against my bitcoin on the Nexo Wallet. Then I watched, on an almost daily basis as the spot price stair-stepped down, and down and down……until the margin call emails flooded my inbox. I had nothing to prop up the account. No other assets. “Ya played yourself, homie! And let yourself get suckered…”

Yep, I sure did. And it was the BEST learning experience of my life!

Because I got some sense knocked into me! I learned that the market also does not care about anyone. It chews you up and spits you out and forgets what you tasted like.

I was devastated. The amount of capital I lost is unimportant. What IS important is that I remembered that only a few days prior to the market heading south at a high rate of speed, I saw a Twitter post from Bitcoin Magazine that simply said, “Get your coins OFF exchanges.” I recalled that I huffed at it when I read it.

But now I knew they were so very right. And that is when I stopped ignoring tweets calling for everyone to take their bitcoin OFF exchanges.

So, I purchased a hardware wallet straight away. I couldn’t wait to get it! I had never taken self custody of my Bitcoin! Once it arrived in the mail, I felt like a kid at Christmas, so excited! I set up my wallet, deleted it and tested my recovery phrase and it went perfectly.

Finally, I was confident in my equipment so I hopped online and transferred my bitcoin to my own cold wallet. Can I tell you something? That…is the best feeling in the world. Holding your own signing keys and making sure they stay secure is paramount in your bitcoin journey.

I began purchasing Bitcoin on a daily basis. $30 a day, every day. This is referred to as DCA, Dollar Cost Averaging, and is the best way to accumulate bitcoin, as it evens out your cost basis over time. It was an exciting experience setting up the bitcoin buys to auto-withdraw right into cold storage!

And so closes the story of my Bitcoin Journey. Stay humble and stack sats and choose freedom over tyranny.