TLDR: I missed a week, life punched hard on multiple fronts, surgery slowed me down big time, Hive went into “maintenance mode”… but the system held. Progress didn’t stop, it just limped. Now it’s time to slowly rebuild momentum, both physically and on Hive.
So yeah… I missed a week. Not because I forgot about Hive. But because real life decided to go full “hold my beer” mode.
The past few weeks have been demanding on pretty much every level you can imagine.
On the professional side, things have been… let’s call it educational. Disasters popping up left and right, while at the same time more and more urgent work keeps getting thrown on the pile. Oh, and of course, with shrinking budgets, because why not add that spice.
That combination tends to lead to one conclusion sooner or later. And yes, I’m now actively looking for something else. Not in panic mode, but very consciously. When effort keeps going up and trust, space, or sanity keep going down, it’s time to listen.
On a personal level, the care our daughter needs has increased noticeably. That also comes with more hospital appointments, more logistics, more planning, and more emotional bandwidth being consumed. And that’s not a temporary spike; that’s something we’ll be navigating for months.
On top of that, I had surgery last week. All went well, recovery is going in the right direction, but let’s be honest: it’s more intense than I hoped for.
To give you an idea:
Normal weeks: 10k–15k steps per day
Last week: ~3k per day
Right now: less than 1k per day
That’s… humbling. A lot will need to be rebuilt, physically and mentally. And no, that doesn’t happen by “just pushing harder”. That happens by being patient, which is my least developed skill.

Very little. And that was intentional.
Posting dropped to near zero. Activity dropped even more. The only real focus was making sure the systems kept running:
tipping bots stayed alive
Hive Witnesses and Hive Engine Witness stayed online
dashboards kept updating
In other words: Hive went into maintenance mode.
And this is actually an important test case. In my opinion, the real value of long-term systems isn’t how they perform when you’re motivated and energetic, but how they behave when you’re tired, distracted, or temporarily unavailable.
Despite everything, savings didn’t collapse. They didn’t moon either, but they held up. HP still moved forward, second-layer tokens crept up slowly, and nothing broke.

Is it impressive? No. Is it acceptable? Absolutely.
Because this wasn’t a growth phase. This was a survival and continuity phase.
The coming weeks won’t be about “catching up”. They’ll be about picking up. Slowly reintroducing movement, routine, posting, and engagement where it fits. No hero moves. No overcorrections.
In my opinion, the Slothly Savers idea fits this phase perfectly. Slow, steady, unsexy progress that survives real life instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.
So yeah. That’s where we are. Still here. Still stacking. Just moving at recovery speed for a bit.
Always Onwards, Upwards, Whalewards!

All photos are my own, shot on my iPhone and sometimes edited in Lightroom.
AI images? Those are created by me too, using my own prompts.
Explore more: Borniet On Hive
Help keep Hive strong and decentralized by supporting my witness node.

Vote for @botlord — one click, big impact!
Like my tools or photos? Buy me a coffee.
Bring fun and positivity to Hive with tipping:
!INDEED – reward engagement → learn more
!HOPE – share positivity → learn more
!WEIRD – embrace the quirky → learn more Did you know you can check the status of these and other tipping bots (more to come) at https://tipping.botlord.eu ?
Really rewarded weird
Why weird?
!HOPE
!PIZZA
!INDEED
!ALIVE
!BBH
You no longer respond to my posts
You were so dear to me. Good morning
View more
!LOLZ
!BBH
Wow great update thanks for sharing sir
Thank you ;-) And you're very welcome ;-)
!HOPE
!PIZZA
!INDEED
!ALIVE
!BBH
!PIZZA
View more
$PIZZA slices delivered:
borniet tipped emmanuel50
borniet tipped fjworld
fjworld tipped borniet
@borniet(4/15) tipped @ekeke (x3)
Send $PIZZA tips in Discord via tip.cc!
Alright sir that's nice 👍😇
Wishing you the best in your recovery.
!ALIVE
!PIZZA
!PEPE
Thank you very much ;-) Doing my best!
!HOPE
!PIZZA
!INDEED
!ALIVE
!BBH