Oh yes! After a record breaking two and a bit years of blogging like crazy, I finally made it to a landmark reputation level 73! Pretty chuffed with that, I gotta admit. But damn, was it a grind to get there...
Although I still believe Steempower to be more valuable than reputation alone, that magical number set aside your username still holds true as to a testament of contribution and dedication to the platform. In most cases anyways, lol. But I'm telling you! It gets so much harder to push up the ranks after you hit the 70 mark. Blogging has been, and still is, lots of fun and a great way of expressing your inner creativity and personal thoughts t others. Hence I "enjoy" blogging and see it as more than just a simple means to an end.
This is just one facet that makes the Steemit model work as well as it does. That motivation to keep you on your toes, striving to better your status on the platform. I remember at the very start of my journey, I put in a few Bitcoin to give myself a little head start. And let me tell you, people complaining about investing now don't know a bad deal I got. 1 BTC was worth around 700 Steem back then and I pressed the "buy" button! OUCH! But still, that was still due to my firm belief in the Steem blockchain from the absolute outset. But there were no guarantees offered as to whether it would succeed or not. Everything was based off of your very own forward thinking and I guess, a few prayers thrown in for good measure, lol. Well, that train of thought seems to have proved right so far. I see an exceedingly bright future for this blockchain and am so incredibly grateful to be a part of it.
To this very day I've never powered down even once. Just consistently kept on blogging and trying to further my ranking on the Steem blockchain. And I humbly put to you that this was much harder than you can imagine. Watching the price plummet to great depths as well as soar to unbelievable heights was really difficult at times. Though emotional discipline played a huge role in staying focused and training your mindset on that final goal, which to me, was always gonna be likely years away. But hey, I've been lucky enough to have made an awesome friend through it going by the name of 
So yeah, another milestone ticked off and many more on their way. Onwards and upwards, as they say. Time ain't gonna wait around for you to decide which direction to take so you might get started as quick as possible, right? Best of luck to you all, my Steemian chums! :)
