So you've been on Steemit a few weeks, and you've put a good bit of time into posts. You've dug deep, researched, fact-checked, and proof-read but for some reason it isn't paying off. You've only accumulated a few followers and made a few cents. Every day you anxiously refresh your blog, hoping it will be the day one of your post takes off and skyrockets you to Steemit fame. Except it doesn't happen, and you're left with bitter disappointment and the question of where your post went wrong. Don't worry, you're not alone. It happens to all of us.
Being a minnow can be frustrating, and having your hard work go unnoticed can be disheartening. Having such little power to commend another's job well done can also be discouraging. Seeing others' posts taking off while your thoroughly researched essay sit lonely and unnoticed can be so disappointing. Clambering your way up in reputation and steem power can definitely be laborious. But in your quest to become noticed and rewarded, you might often fail to recognize how you are growing.
Think back to before you joined Steemit. How often did you really reflect to think about the issues that were important enough to write about? Did you snap pictures of your day just to share with others? How regularly did you heavily research topics that interested you in order to educate others? How often did you share your poems, stories, or essays? Steemit has given us a way and a drive to dig deep and figure out what speaks to us loudly enough to write about. Recently I found myself pouting about only making a few cents on an article I spent hours writing when I realized I probably would have never even bothered fact-checking and sharing it with others had I not been motivated by Steemit. This site is helping us learn more and more about our world and ourselves because we have to comb our brains to figure out what to write about and how to summarize ourselves in a few paragraphs. It has become such a cathartic experience for many to just sit down and write. You may not be earning thousands of dollars quite yet, but you are probably learning so much about yourself along the way. And I think that is really important.
So don't get discouraged and quit. You are an important part of this virtual ecosystem. Keep writing. Keep researching. Keep reflecting on what is important enough to you to eloquently share with others.
"It's not about the destination. It's about the journey."