The mission is connection and collaboration

Hello, my name is Benjamin. Thank you for visiting my digital space and thank you for your interest in getting to know me. I do appreciate it.

I’m on the autism spectrum and I have ADD, and I’m predominantly an introverted person. I like computers, programming and web development. Although I’m not like those crazy smart software engineers and computer scientists, I do hold a vision and a fire within me ever since I realized what it meant for me to combine the ability to freely create your very own website, with an open social platform, available for anyone to connect with and participate in, as a backend. People would be able to display their own portion of the data in their own unique way, while others could still collaborate and connect with them through the shared backend. I saw the possibility for communities and individuals alike to create authentic and creative digital expressions of themselves, and connect and collaborate with each other in the process.

Naturally, I started following this vision. I was never really able to express it however, in a way that people understood. So I was determined to just create it and show them instead. I did this full-time, without an income, as I could very clearly feel how a 9-to-5 would completely deplete me and make me deeply unhappy. All I really was interested in, was my vision. But like I said, I’m no experienced software engineer and with my ADD, studying complex theoretical subjects is not exactly my strong suit. And so I wasn’t able to make this vision into a reality. And people around me were looking at me like wtf are you doing with your life.

I started working in a 9-to-5 as a web developer and after not too long, I ended up with a burnout and a deep depression. I quit my job, decided to leave programming behind and started studying holistic health coaching, trauma therapy and relationship coaching. For some time I thought I would become a coach and embody the mission to create connection and collaboration in the world in this way, but then I realized that I was the one having trouble connecting with myself and connecting with others. I ended up learning a lot about myself. I also realized that I really enjoyed programming and that I didn’t want to give that up. So I decided to pick it up again, step by step this time, following what I can do, learning, and letting go of what I cannot do. Moving slowly, in a world that’s ever racing faster. It wasn’t easy at first, and I “fell” a lot, but now I’m starting to feel like I’m getting the hang of it.

And then, 9 years or so after my initial vision, I discovered nostr. And I saw that the open social backend I dreamt of was here. And I didn’t have to create it myself, I never did. Of course it would be decentralized and a community effort. It was beautiful, simple and elegant and even I could read through the documentation and understand how it worked to an extend that I was able to create something with it: breefly.social. And so the vision is back on! Maybe I can’t create complex low-level software, but I can create beautiful websites! So that’s what I’m gonna do. As well as continuing to learn about and experiment with nostr of course, because you can rest assured that it is the future of social media. Or something of that nature is at least.

And so the mission is, to create real digital connection in order to support collaboration in creative social endeavors. Currently I’m doing this by creating authentic, tailor-made websites for entrepreneurs and communities, and by experimenting with nostr. I’d love to help you out with claiming your digital space and shaping it creatively, and I’m looking forward to meet people who also have a vision of the same nature and to collaborate with them!

Thank you for reading! Much love, Benjamin.

This article was originally published on benjamindedonder.online.