Hey everybody, today it's been a year, full of adventures, since I joined Steemit. For me, Steemit was like a rollercoaster ride, with its ups and dows, but always a fascinating and joyous experience.

Take notice of the year. 😁

I went through it all: 0 cents per post, the first $ 600, being trolled, I got into trending posts, I was hacked, I didn't give up, I got back in trending posts, I lost my confidence in it, but ,finally, I came back.

From the beginning I was focused on posting original articles with interesting content, most of them being about my travels. But things were like this: I did not make any cent and could not understand why.

Monte Carlo

I had no patience, my heels burned, not because I was not making money, but because I was afraid my articles weren't good enough. So I searched for help, I started to spend hours on Steemit reading as much as possible.

Thus I came across the article of @steemship, saying he offered support to new users and offered SBD if they had good articles.

Honestly, my experience on Steemit depended on your help, so thank you very much!

I got my guts up and asked for his help, and in return, I received the most effective feedback. I'll show it to you as well, because I'm sure it will be helpful to many, as it was for me.

I made a new #introduceyourself post, in which I followed the advices I received and so I made the first $ 600. I cannot be false and say that the money did not delight me, but to be honest, all the comments received, all the wishes and welcome, that is what made me fall in love with Steemit and stay that way until today.

Also, another thing happened: someone started to comment badly on my article, accusing me of being a kind of a clown because I am a freelancer and I earn my living as a graphic designer. But that did not mean anything in comparison with the kindness showed by others.

That's why, @pfunk, I want to thank you for taking my side and also for helping me recover my article when it was destroyed by the hacker.

How did that happen? Well, at that moment, there had been a cyber attack and everyone was advised to change their password. I remember that I had seen many posts with this, but I thought I was not important and so they would't have anything to do with me. Eh and the thing was that one of my posts about art happened to reach trending posts, having around $ 3900, so I was clearly not invisible anymore and I was hacked.

They deleted the content of the article and instead put all sorts of stupid memes, which inevitably led to downvotes and loss of reward. With help and insistence, I managed to recover almost $ 600, but the impact was quite huge, you can imagine.

But I didn't surrender, in fact, this event made me become even more ambitious. I was already beginning to feel like I was living my own dream, being my own hero.

Yeah, Steemit can make you feel that way.

Plus, I felt like I was suddenly alive, I was not just surviving. Besides work and daily activities, my time was completely taken by Steemit. There wasn't a day I didn't write, and at night I used to chat on slack until 4-5 in the morning.

But I never found it hard and I always said it was the most beautiful time of life. I started to read more, to inform myself, to go to different activities, meet-ups, to be more active, as this helped me to get creative.

And it did not take long until I got to trending posts again, and once again some time after. But that's not relevant, getting into trending posts is not the goal you should have. Attention to content and consistency are the most important, and I have succeeded in having them.

Where do I want to get? Never give up, not just to Steemit, but to your dreams and goals. Anything can be achieved with persistence and trust.

But as in any love story, there are quarrels or colds. And, well, at some point, I happened to cool down against Steemit and to post less and less. Steemit was not in the best condition, I started to have many orders and had to give up something.

I was afraid that Steemit was a good luck that had fallen from heaven and now it was gone. Plus it's hard to get financial security from being a freelancer, so I chose the work.

No, I didn't give up completely. I still posted ... at the beginning once every 3 days, then one week, then one month and even 3 months.

But the fact that I did not give up completely is due to Steemit-related friendships.

You see, that attracted me first, I saw that Steemit was full of creative, smart and kind people.

Thanks to @hanshotfirst @sauravrungta every time I came back, I felt at home. They always supported and encouraged me, and they were also the ones who kept telling me to come back, pulling my ears somehow.

So yes, thank you for keeping me attached to Steemit!

And like a wandering son, I've been back for almost three weeks and I write as often as I can, trying to recover the lost time.

These are my simple thoughts, after I looked a little in the past. Reading this again sounds like a speech from who knows what grand ceremony. So I'll stop here. Of course, there are other users who have played an important role ... but in this manner I think I could have done 3 posts, not one.

Cheers to Steemit!

Ok, I had to erase the tag introduceyourself. After all these comments, I wish I had thought better.

Don't forget to follow for more!