My second month on Steemit isn't over yet but I can't help the feeling it is time again for analyzing where I am standing right now compared to my beginnings.

In December Bitcoin reached its highest levels ever (I have a tendency of being late). I wasn't even interested in cryptocurrencies before I came here. I didn't know anything about it. To me it was something that is only interesting for nerds and speculators.
How do I look at this now?

A term you can't ignore here: the blockchain

I still don't exactly know, how this works technically, but I have some kind of a vague picture of it in my head. I understand what decentralization means. I love the idea of it. I am a very political person. I love freedom. I love it when more people are sharing power and responsibilities than before. Because to me that means the system provides more security for everybody. So I had no other choice than falling in love with Steemit!

What about the money?

That's a point where I learned much about myself here. At first I was overwhelmed from getting upvotes and comments on my posts. Some of them were successful. I thought "and this will even be getting better". Then there were posts not so successful. And I had a short period where I was like the typical disappointed minnow: "Why do worse posts than mine get more upvotes and earn more? That's not fair! It is too hard for newbies! Whales are just voting up each other! They have bots, they aren't really interested in good content..."

Really?

Maybe there are some people around here who earn more than their content is worth. (Not pointing at anyone). But there are also well earning users who really care about Steemit and the blockchain. Who have high ideals and build brilliant apps or are looking for investors. Who are really bringing the whole thing forward. So it's like everywhere: you have good people, you have bad people. Just make sure you read and upvote the good ones!

What about the community?

Of corse there is another aspect when it comes to making money here:

Friendship!

Some folks around here have a strange understanding of that: "Can we be friends? You upvote me, I upvote you." To some of you it may seem, that this is what whales are doing. But often that's not the case. Yes there are whales connected to another. But that's not a strange thing. They are here for a while, they are friends. A whale isn't something you need to catch. When you see it that way, you are making them some sort of a money bag. But they are just people. You can try to befriend them, but if I was a whale I would be very careful with that. Because maybe people are not interested in you as a person or in your content but in the oppurtunity of making money with you.

So am I still disappointed by now?

Absolutely not. I realized that when you are starting here, Steemit is way more about community than about making money. I already found some people who I really like. I visit their accounts regularly and see what's new. I like their content and I upvote and comment them. And they upvote and comment me. But we don't earn much with that yet. Because most of them are newbies just like me. And that's okay. Maybe we will earn more money in the future, when we have grown here. Maybe we will be dolphins who vote for another. And maybe newbies and minnows will criticize us for being friends and earning money with that? Who knows.

At the moment I am just enjoying to read high quality content from very intelligent persons around here. I enjoy chatting with them. And the most important thing: I can learn so many new things from them and have fun! So how important is making money compared to that?

So let's just be friends and keep on Steemin'! :-)

Picture: [https://pixabay.com/de/h%C3%A4nde-freundschaft-freunde-kinder-2847508/]