Hey @arbitrarykitten,
First of all, congrats on your one year Steemit anniversary!
What a fantastic contest you're holding, and since I love contests, I'm happy to enter a short write-up.
What makes me happy at Steemit?
It's the community!
Allow me to elaborate 😃
As I mentioned, I love contests, and competing in general. I joined the Steemit platform back in January 29th, 2018 (still fairly new by all accounts!) and it took me about a month or so afterward to really get involved, starting with contests. I saw that people were rewarding others with SBD and/or STEEM to enter & win their contests, so I thought "why not?" and joined in on the fun.
Gradually, I ended up having regular interactions with many Steemians (or Steemitzens) and almost always they were positive and engaging. As months passed by, I found myself entertained by various people, posts, contests and of course the ever popular, Steem Monsters.
I realized quite quickly that I didn't just join a blockchain based platform that rewarded user interactions with cryptocurrency, no. I had immersed myself into a community based ecosystem, with friendly folks, who had like-minded goals and came out a better person for it!
Did Steemit change my life?
Daily, I see people from across the globe, coming together and participating in each others lives. I respect those that wish to stay in a niche as much as those that are everywhere and engaging with their followers about everything.
The one thing I've noticed to be very prevalent is the goal to help those in need (e.g. Venezuelans). Lately, I've had the pleasure of meeting @charitybot, and I love what he's doing to help those on Steemit. The passion of like-minded individuals like him is incredible, to say the least, and I aim to get myself in a position to 'help', as they do.
What else is there to say?
Well, I'm seriously considering opening a Steemit account for my 3 year old daughter. She loves the arts and creates many 'drawings' that I would love to post about here. I think in a few years, she might appreciate Steemit... if not, we'll see where we go from there!
I think I've also become better at creating short write-ups and taking the little extra time needed to create engaging content (through commenting, mostly!). I can feel my honesty coming through my words and it makes me happy. Happier still to see others react and share thoughts back-and-forth.
I can't wait to see what the rest of 2018 brings. I hope to have more stories to share, contests to enter, and relationships to build. I believe I am a Steemian, and that means a lot to me.
Cheers,
