When I joined Steemit about 3 months back, I did it initially to make money and then to have a medium to express myself and make some great friends. Little did I know that I’d end up making some nice friends for real. I mean, I did have the intention to make virtual friends but didn’t really believe I’d be meeting great people from my own country on Steemit and that I’d really enjoy their company too. However, Steemit proved me wrong and did something amazing for me.
About a month back, I came across Ghulam Mujtaba’s (
Hive account@ghulammujtaba) blog on Steemit and saw that a Pakistani was doing some good work here. Through him, I got in touch with 
Hive account@beingnaveed and we clicked instantly. Soon enough, we became virtual friends and that sparked the idea of us actually having a meet-up and getting to know each other for real and helping each other grow on Steemit. Hive account@ghulammujtaba has introduced many of his friends to Steemit so more people went on board with this idea so 
Hive account@muhammadyasir, Hive account@ghulammujtaba, Hive account@beingnaveed, 
Hive account@zaidi, 
Hive account@aymen.mazhar, 
Hive account@writerbro, 
Hive account@komalirfan and 
Hive account@danieldavid were supposed to meet this Friday.
Since I have never really had actual interactions with people I met online, I was a little apprehensive and nervous, and oh-so-excited at the same time. I wasn’t in talks with all of the people I just mentioned but the two I was in touch seemed really great so I was eager to meet them.
Although my husband Hive account@muhammadyasir and I were supposed to meet the group but due to certain glitches, only I could attend the meet-up. So on Friday, I went along with Faateh (my son) to meet these guys. My son wasn’t supposed to accompany me since he had a playdate but that playdate got cancelled last minute so he tagged along with me.
Hive account@ghulammujtaba, Hive account@beingnaveed, Hive account@zaidi, Hive account@komalirfan and Hive account@danieldavid showed up and from the minute we guys got together to the minute we departed, we had a really good time. From venturing on Steemit to growing on the platform to believing in oneself to nurturing a burning desire for your ultimate goal to spreading Steemit far and wide in Pakistan, we talked about it all and had a really good time.
The best part about the meetup was that all these people were extremely respectful and open to ideas- something which is rare here but I was so pleased to see that there are so many amazing people out there which I would only find if I met more people. Today, I did and had a fantastic time.
So now almost all of us are in touch with each other and have decided to help each other grow individually and as a community on Steemit and even otherwise because we strongly believe that helping each other out is a great way to succeed and achieve whatever we aspire to have in our lives.
Just because of Steemit, some great people got to meet and know each other so yeah, now I believe that you can find actual friends from online forums too. Here are the photos from our meetup yesterday. Hive account@komalirfan and Hive account@danieldavid had to leave early because of work commitments so they are missing in the selfies.
From left to right, Hive account@beingnaveed, Hive account@ghulammujtaba, Hive account@zaidi and 
Hive account@sharoonyasir and yes, it is Faateh in the middle.
We plan to have regular meetups in the future too; hope we stick to this commitment
Much love,
Sharoon.
