Hi @lucygarrod
I am flattered by your praise but I am more pleased that you are actually posting. I am also a little jealous ... So far this post is $1.52 STEEM. I know that this isn't very much (possibly the price of a fancy cup of coffee). However not only are you rewarding yourself, you are acting as an inspiration to those around you. Not necessarily in the physical world but your Steemian community.
I am truly grateful for your constant encouragement and support :) Thank you so much! I am trying to pay it forward to other newbies (even though my vote doesn't have much power, I think it is encouraging when you see someone bothered to read your post and they liked it!). Hehehee I think I will skip that fancy cup of coffee and just use this $1.52 Steem to vote for my friends and other newbies who need community support.
I think it is getting tougher for newbies to be seen as the platform grows. I see some new people joining who are contributing some nice content and not many people are even bothering to open their posts.