I am writing this post in response to @snook's A Snookmademedoit Challenge introducing her new community Snook Made Me Do It.

"Have you ever read a Steemians post and wonder how in the world they ended up on the Steem Blockchain? What brought them here? Why are they still here? Did they have an easy time when they walked in the great front door of the future?"

"I think we all have more in common about why we have stayed on the Steem blockchain. I would love to hear your Steem story. What I would also love to hear is why with all the hardforks, learning, and struggles you made it on Steem as of today."
_{- @snook}

How did I get here?

I was part of a Discord for Ethereum Miners and one people I talked a lot with I believe mentioned it to me. I have participated in Steem every day since then. I have since quit mining Ethereum and haven't been around there in a couple of years. Steem has managed to take the majority of my free time.

I remember the early days of Steem I used to joke that my posts would just go into a black hole. No one cared what I wrote or who I was. It took time to make a name for myself and get the attention of others. I remember when the people I talk to on a regular basis were celebrities to me and I felt they would never give me the time of day, today many of them are my friends.

When I first got here, I made it a goal to try to post on a daily basis. To this day, I have managed to stick to this fairly well, although lately I have been finding it harder.

Why am I still here?

I love Steem and the challenges that come with it. I have put a lot of time and money into Steem and I want to see where we can go. I believe we have the potential to do something amazing if we can focus on growth and find new uses for Steem and get past the petty squabbles.

I enjoy the challenges and opportunities Steem presents. I have enjoyed building different projects on Steem, some of them very useful and some of them more of a novelty.

I have met a lot of people here, I have a very mixed reputation here as I spent a large portion of time fighting abuse. Those who know me, know I put a lot of time and care into Steem and am always trying to make Steem better than when I got here. It is hard to avoid the endless drama that comes with fighting abuse as an individual and is a very trying experience to keep a positive outlook and continue. I always try to be very active and present in the community.

We are all in this together