On exactly this date, six years ago, I created my Hive account. I had been initially skeptical about joining Hive, even after I had known about it from my friends' months before. I was a teenager and didn't believe in making money from the internet. I was about to finish polytechnic (college) and had no way to finance my life, no plans, and was without a single penny in my pocket. I thought I had nothing to lose if I joined Hive anyway and I did.
I made it to steem Hive, and since the fork, it has been a blessing to me till today. It had supported me through difficult times; I can recall times when I had to go through surgical operations and my hive power was there to pay for the hospital bills. I have also been able to learn a lot from this community. Being here for six years had not been easy; it was never a smooth journey, and it was not all roses.
Although I received this notification 10 days ago, I had been skeptical about whether I should still write this post or not, but I chose to write it and share some of my experiences here on Hive.
The first lesson I have learned from Hive is Patience. Whoever that joined before Hive was forked, during the time I joined and is still active in this chain would have learned a great deal of patience. This is because it was not easy from the onset as most of the people, my circle of that time have left Hive and moved on, but I am still here.
I don't know how these people that left are doing now, but I hope things are doing great for them. If I was to see a better opportunity outside Hive, that pays me more than Hive will. Yes, my activity may reduce but I will not be able to completely leave this place because it is already part of me. I will invest a lot in my HBD Savings and gradually build my Hive Power. There is a lot of good that can be done with it i.e. supporting great contents and authors out there.
The second lesson is that nothing is guaranteed, be grateful with the rewards you get, no matter how small or how big. This is very important so that you don't begin to feel entitled to the rewards you get when they do not come as the way you expect it. If you lack the act of gratitude, then you will be filled with envy and will not appreciate the rewards you make even though it may be better than other authors in the community.
The third Lesson is that you should be open to exploring and learn new things. When I say explore, I also include engaging with other authors, participating in contests and community activities, especially call to actions. These things bring visibility to your Hive account. Whatever that is trending, whether a contest or a tool, try it out; participate and learn more about it.
The Fourth Lesson is to focus on providing value to the community, and then the rewards will come after. This is so true because if you are the type that provides value, and contributes so much to the community, you will be recognized no matter what, and surely you will get rewarded for doing so.
The Fifth Lesson is to keep being consistent. Consistency matters a lot; in everything we do. Because we don't know which day will be our lucky day or when our angel comes looking for us and we find ourselves inactive. There have been days when I get crazily rewarded on my posts and these posts are posts that I made reluctantly.
The Sixth Lesson is to pay it forward to others. Even before things start getting better for you, also help others as well. You don't know who is who, the person who you are helping could one day connect you to your helper, or the person can actually end up being your helper as well. I have benefited from a lot of people who I have helped, and they later ended up being of a far more benefit to me in the future. They literally made my life on Hive easier only because I was able to be of support and guidance to them.
One of the things I hope for next year is that the value of Hive should be far better than what it is now. I cannot predict what value it will be, but I pray that it would be far better than the last bull run. As for me, I hope to be in a better financial state, stability and even attained independence.
My next year, I pray I be more of a curator and less of a writer. I will be done with the University in three months' time and from now till next year, I hope to have a more and stable career in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Till then, I wish you all the best. Thanks for reading.