Congratulations on your 50th post! Glad you've kept at it. This is one of the biggest problems with Steemit. When I started blogging, I was lucky enough to earn a few Curies early on - and at that time Steem was worth about $10. However I didn't know anything about Curies - I just thought I'd stumbled into a gold mine! I soon realised that most of my posts would earn very little - however I enjoyed the fact that people were actually reading and commenting on my posts, and I just love writing. Also, there is so much happening on Steemit - it's a fascinating and often fun place to be. That's what keeps me going. I wish more people would see this aspect of Steemit - and see the earnings as a small bonus - instead of giving up when the value falls.
I think that if the payment window was extended and if the earning amounts were displayed in Steem/SBD instead of dollars, that would increase interest in the platform. Good posts would have a longer life then, and the long-term value of shitposts would plummet.