I have never grown in my entire life.
I was born just as I am now. I have never had to try or learn something new. All that I know now, I have always known, will always know, and is all I need to know.
Isn't that interesting? I wish.
Now let's settle back into reality. The human journey is one of growth, new experiences, new tricks, and a helluva of mistakes. From childhood to early teenagehood I've had a lot of experiences to learn from. I made foolish mistakes — some that still make me cringe; in fact, sometimes, I don't want to remember I did them. But these experiences are nothing compared to the realisation of what “growing up” is. It's a tough concept. The realisation that I had to learn to stand on my own in every area of my life was… well, daunting to keep it simple. Okay, you know what, trash that. It was hell. In the last couple of years, I have struggled to keep up with being a creative and handling real life (including online trolls, family and relationships). To have to wage a war against yourself to make your life purposeful and different is maddening. To lose that war and relapse into an abyss of self-loathing and self-reproach is breaking; breaking to the body, mind, and spirit.
At some point, I had to take a break and pull away from everything. I became an empty shell who just wanted to lay peacefully on the seashore. I just existed in the continuum of in-betweens where I sometimes asked, “What really is the point?”
Last year, I was onboarded into web3. This gave me a new purpose — what mark could I leave in this extra-digital era? The world and humanity as a whole have been through ups and downs, and yet, here we are, still pushing to create a new order and build the world we want. It's very impressive. What matches this wonder is seeing a project that is dedicated to growing and evolving with us.
I came across The Gardeners through PronounsDAO and I haven't quite recovered from the awesomeness of this project.
Why is The Gardeners so awesome?
- Documenting your story:
Your NFT is you. It represents every ocean you crossed and every star your hands touched. It holds your story — from the days your shoulders hung and your head bowed with the weight of trying to the days your body shot into the air and you whooped for joy. Each piece of art is a testimony of our journey.
- Timeless art:
I remember going through the lore, trying to absorb each piece of art, to memorise each character, each plant. But I couldn't because it is simply exceptional. It's like a delicious rare candy your father got you, so you don't want it to ever finish; you take only a tiny bite per time and savor its flavor to make sure it leaves forever on your tongue's memory.
- The spirit of community:
I'm always drawn to community and I'm glad we can learn about each other's life journey with NFTs. It creates a special feeling. I know that I am not alone, and each of us writes our own unique, non-fungible stories with every experience we have.
How does Gardeners tell our story?
Through ERC-6551 technology.
With this technology, NFTs can have identities, and our digital growth can be incorporated into them. Instead of NFTs that are just art, ERC-6551 makes it possible for NFTs to be associated with an onchain activity, to interact with decentralised applications, and to function as a wallet.
The Gardeners journey includes three steps:
- Awakening
- Growing
- Blooming
Awakening is the planting season. You mint your NFT and begin your story.Growing is where Seth comes in. They are our digital guide to self-discovery.Blooming is where you get to upgrade your NFT.
Am I the only one excited about this?I can't wait to see how beautifully my garden does.
You reading this, tell me, what is in your garden?