I'll begin by pointing out that I in now way see my statement that NFT's saved my life as any sort of exaggeration. I'm fairly new to the HIVE ecosystem, and as such many of you don't know me, but I'm fairly omnipresent in the NFT ecosystem across several blockchain networks. That's not an attempt at bragging, I'm certainly not a famous artist or even a very successful one; I simply mean that if NFT's are involved, it's likely I'm watching or participating in some sense. Anyway, down to brass tacks.
I legitimately owe my sanity and my life, to the cryptoart/NFT communities. Without rambling about the entire process of me finding my way into this space, I'll simply say that several months of struggling with banks, credit unions, etc. (basically the FIAT financial system in general) led me to seek an alternative in the form of cryptocurrency so that I could accept payments online. At the time, I was; like so many other people, chasing the "american dream". I was building an online store, and the vast majority of my product catalog placed me in the category of 'high-risk industries' and prevented me from being able to accept credit cards through pretty much any platform I was able to utilize as someone who couldn't code their way out of a wet paper bag.
What began as a search for a method of accepting payments other than the traditional systems that I was unable to utilize, has become a life-changing experience, and as stated, is directly responsible for the fact that I'm alive right now. In December of last year, my focus was on maximizing my profit and working on my own terms doing what I wanted to do and not having to take orders from someone capitalizing on my work ethic while paying me as little as possible. The business I was building fell victim to Covid-19, as I was unwilling to directly import anything from China (where all my suppliers were), but I don't have any regrets quite honestly. Nor do I consider it to be a failure. Sure, I spent money I won't make back to invest in domain names, web-hosting, etc. etc. but in doing so I learned a ton of different skills, and found the tribe I didn't even know I was missing. I feel as tho I'm rambling, and likely starting to get repetitive without really making my point; so here we go.
Not being able to accept credit cards led me to research bitcoin as an alternative. That research inevitably led me to discovering and researching Ethereum as a currency, and as a computational network. The deeper into the rabbit-hole I went, the more I realized how revolutionary the fundamentals were. Decentralization became somewhat of an obsession. Somewhere along the journey, I found my to a trailer for Alterverse. As a long time gamer, and a long time user of Enjin (I think I started playing minecraft online in 2010) I was immediately bullish on Enjincoin,and was intensely intrigued by the concept of truly own-able digital assets and game items. From there I did more research into NFT's and way onto Cent (an ethereum based "blogging" platform). The first artwork I saw on Cent that truly caught my eye, and warranted enough of my attention to read the post about, was "The Dabstation" by DabDragon (cryptoartleague on cent)  After reading the post attached, I decided to create an account, and try to get some feedback on my own digital art. The support and positive feedback I received absolutely blew my mind; and convinced me to begin publicizing my creations as NFT's. Not only have I found an incredible sense of community, I've realized how passionate I am about creativity, creative freedom, and the ability to generate income based on your creative works without 3rd party interference. In finding the NFT ecosystem, and exploring this crazy crypto rabbit-hole, I've found something I'm truly passionate about, which I don't remember ever having in my life previously. Not only that, I wake up every day with the knowledge that I'm involved in something with the potential to change the world and positively impact countless lives. For those reasons, and for dozens more that I won't take the time to list, the crypto space, and NFT's specifically, have literally given me something to live for.
I no longer think of things from a perspective of "how can I maximize my profit / ROI" I think from a standpoint of "how can I use my knowledge/skillset to have a positive effect on the most people". If I didn't have art as an outlet, collecting as a form of entertainment, or confidence in the fact that I'm a part of something that matters, I wouldn't have survived the chaos that has been 2020.