First of all, Happy Steemiversary 😊 There's so much knowledge we all can learn from here, especially engagement. As you mentioned,

I had to work very hard. It was like going back to elementary school on social media engagement.

I resonated with that!

Steemit offers so many different ways to learn, to make friends, even finding a new family. Although sometimes it's not always rainbow and daisy, I still find the good thing more than the negative thing here in contrast to social media out there.