It is Good Friday, I am struggling with pain (hopefully nothing worse) and it has eaten my energy this week. Not a good time for it with packing, helping my stepdad move, still trying to sort out a property for myself and many other things building up. It's easy to let this stuff overwhelm me and I am getting much better at not letting that happen. Today's blog is about growth, spring, hope, and a little about me. It will be shorter then usual, I don't want to keep you today. It is family time after all!

Spring has long been one of my favourite times of year. As much as it signifies the end of the football season it is also the start of the cricket season and being able to play football in the park. Those childhood memories stay strong and I am of a generation that was made to play outside. Screen's were bad (possibly still are) and I would spend my summers playing football in the park, spending time with family (Mum and Dad divorced when I was 2) and having fun.

Some of my favourite times were with my grandparents. I have so many fond memories of the North Yorkshire countryside and I always enjoyed my time with them. I would always see them on the Easter holidays. Spring was also one of Mum's favourite times of year, helped by her birthday being the 2nd of April and she loved the spring flowers. As I've got older Spring has meant the start of golf season, walks, beaches parks and watching cricket. I will be making time for some of this stuff this year.

It's Easter and whilst I am not religious (and I don't like chocolate all that much), the symbolism Easter provides us with is something to pay attention to, there are a lot of links to Spring and being kind to others. It's the season of birth and growth for nature and Easter symbolises this with chicks. We spend time with family and share gifts. Spring is the start of longer days and warmer times in the UK (normally) and this makes me feel better about myself in general.

Spring usually gives me a boost, and it has this year too. I just have a lot on at the same time and I haven't been able to enjoy the beginnings of it as much as I normally would. Things will be better when I have a flat sorted and it is coming, I hope. If I don't hear back this week, I will need to look for other places next weekend. This Easter weekend will give me some time to catch up and build some processes for Polygon Alliance. This will help us and has been left on the back burner for too long.

I have felt like I have lost hope too many times in my past. I now feel losing hope once is too many times, but I have lost it in far more situations than that. Hope makes me aspire to be more, to push forward with my ideas and to keep smiling. I believe that not giving up has much more to do with hope and belief than anything else. I also know that having hope encourages belief. Not just internally but from those around you too.

Hope will mean different things for everyone but the dictionary definition is "a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen". I think "wanting things to be different and believing they can be" is a far better definition. I am also of the opinion that expectation wrapped into hope can be one of the biggest causes of losing hope. We should temper our expectations but hope for the best.

And this is how I manage my auto immune condition. I don't ever expect to be fully healed and pain free any more, but I do hope for it. Having that expectation crushed me when new treatments wouldn't work. Managing my pain became a lot easier when I accepted it for what it is, but like I said. I hope that I become pain free at some point. I just don't want to expect it any more.

One of my plans this weekend is to add more of my previous blog issues to Paragraph. I have 23 issues to add and if you are feeling the urge for some more of my content, I now have 16 published issues here. Just click on my PfP (top left) and have a look at some of my previous issues. 3 of the last 4 issues have been talking about Twitter. Some of my Twitter story if you like.

My 30K celebration giveaway. If you hold one of my NFT's, check your emails. You have the first opportunity to be included in this giveaway. You can use it for a friend or a project you like if you don't want to use it yourself. There are limited places, it will be first come, first serve and I will open it up on Twitter if there are spaces left next weekend.

I have finished the draft for our first story at CryptoGoonz. I think there is one more side story to make, and that should leave it where we want it left. This is my first piece of fictional writing and I am proud of it, however the more I look at it, the more changes I want to make! Chris and I will publish it in our Discord and one of our next tasks is working out how, and where, to publish the whole story. I am pretty sure AI will be our friend!

Dave Swinbank

@Davc_s

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My holders have got first access to be part of my 30K giveaway celebration (numbers are limited)

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9:39 AM • Apr 3, 2023

As I said, short and sweet. I never know what I am going to write about really. I may have a rough idea but I enjoy creating my content in the moment. I have much more to write about Twitter and this space but that's for another time.

One final reminder to enjoy this time with your family and friends. I have made some time for that and as much as I don't crave chocolate, you can be sure I will be having some this weekend! Thank you for reading, spread some smiles this weekend and I will catch you next Friday.