The following story is written by Brooke L., a member from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Brooke has a passion for knowledge and learning. She loves music, culture, travel and cuisine and has recently began her journey as a language teacher.
Simbi caught my interest because it seemed like a great way to encounter like-minded individuals, and to take part in a community that operates upon a foundation of truly reciprocal services. When I signed up, I recruited some friends, did my first few deals, and right away I was hooked. Simply by browsing through my Facebook newsfeed, I had stumbled upon this awesome, virtual utopia. I began to meet so many great people with amazing energy, and I reconnected with my skills and hobbies that I had long cast aside because I didn’t have the ‘time.’
Little did I know, I had also just re-opened a vault of creativity in my life.
Human Connection
“Time is money”: a familiar saying that is quite literally time-less. I’m inclined to believe, that if time is money then greed must be a lack of generosity regarding both money and time. Like all ecosystems, the equilibrium of money and time fluctuate in a cycle. We gain money we lose money, we gain time, we lose time. Sometimes we make up for our losses and other times we don’t; more often than not, it seems that we don’t. When we get wrapped up in a cycle like this, we become focused primarily on loss, which does not make for a peaceful state of mind. Simbi involves giving time, and virtual money; however, it offers another valuable reward, which is human connection. When you are able to experience a genuine human connection, you never lose, and that’s the beauty of Simbi. Its cooperative environment allows for human connection to flourish.
Cooperation: Going from “Me” to “We”
It might not always be obvious, but the concepts of scarcity and competition turn the gears of capitalism. Capitalism dehumanizes us, shifting the focus onto profit to the point of exploitation. It says, “If I help you, then you owe me” and “If you help me, then you are expecting something from me.” In a capitalist society, generosity becomes viewed as an expense and even as a weakness; in turn, the successes of others become our failures. Contrarily, abundance and cooperation are the ideologies behind Simbi, which says “When I help you, I also help me” and “When you help me, you also help you.” How so? With every Simbi deal we make we are rated, and about 95% of the time we will also be reviewed. This feedback is both encouraging and helpful, providing a reflection of how we have impacted others and also by highlighting areas where we can improve. And for every friend we recruit, we earn Simbi. For our friends’ first deal, we both gain Simbi from it; thus, cooperation becomes the incentive behind reaching our objectives. When I win, you also win, and vice versa, in a domino-like effect.
De-capitalism and Re-creativity
Karl Marx said that human creativity is stunted, buried beneath the mind-numbing work that we are required to do in order to sustain our living in a capitalist society. While we can’t exactly eradicate capitalism, because we all have bills to pay and responsibilities to fulfill, we can unstifle our creativity by the taking time to do what we love and balancing that with the other work we must do. Simbi is just the right space for that, as a place to re-discover our talents, and to help and encourage others to do the same. By encouraging us to cooperatively connect with one another by doing what we love, Simbi allows us to further imbue our lives with joy and purpose.
Overall, the people that I have met and worked with on Simbi give me hope that the world is truly ready for a transformation. It is a place where we can be appreciated rather than exploited for generosity, and it is so effective in helping us to see how much we impact one another and how we are all intertwined. Human beings are an interdependent species, and I look forward to the day when we can comfortably acknowledge and accept this, rather than insisting on the power and independence that is so highly valued in a predominantly capitalistic world. As it is reflected in one of my favourite quotes, from the feminist economist Heidi Hartmann, “We must insist that the society we want to create is a society in which recognition of interdependence is liberation rather than shame…”
Simbiotic Stories are real anecdotes told by you and other Simbi community members. Tell us about your Simbi deals and experiences with other members. If your story is published, we’ll credit your account with 150 simbi. Submit your entries by starting a conversation with us via this link.
I do get involved with a lot of community service, I am just looking for someone to revamp my resume. I am still using my iPhone ten, but I have learned a lot on group chats.