Hello my fellow Plankton, #newbies and #minnows and other larger ocean dwellers!

---

This is my 6th week on #steemit and I must say it's been an interesting a very insightful platform of discovery, full of mainly, great quality content and frankly, lovely, creative and helpful people.

So here's a massive thanks to you all!

---

source- https://pixabay.com/en/thanks-word-letters-scrabble-1804597/

---

(Let's get the negatives out the way first)
Apologies for repeating what has already been said regarding this subject but, I'd like to have a little rant to get it off my chest.

source - https://pixabay.com/en/yada-yada-board-insignificance-1430679/

---

There are however, the #plagiarist types among us that think, a simple #copyandpaste with a crappy photo is still an acceptable way of making some #money on #steemit, but thanks to @cheetah bot, they will be unearthed indefinitely I'm sure, as well as being flagged by us all that are completely against this 'anti-creative' shennaigans.

---

source - https://pixabay.com/en/burglar-crime-criminal-theft-thief-157142/

---

It's such a simple task to credit the great resources that #google have to offer, by simply adding 'SOURCE - Followed by the url to your post.

Now, I may be wrong with my analogy of this but, I think I'm right in a kind of way so please bare with me.
There are of course the other account holders, which seem to have invested huge sums of money in Steem (I wish) that then post 1 picture with a 4 lined paragraph about 'How nice the view is out the window' and somehow, get loads of up-votes and a healthy SBD payday to boot...but, that's for another time.

last week was a tough one, I was flagging with all the late nights spent on here and #discord, working full time in my tutor job with special needs children, networking, researching and creating content for my blog, in the hope that someone with a big influence here could give me a much needed boost and take me under their fin.
It didn't happen, and why should it? for ease, to help me out? why should they? they must of started out as a tiny plankton in this huge ocean that is Steemit! **

---

Then I see this tree the other day that had forced it's way through the slats of that bench, and thought to myself, 'the struggle is real, life is tough, you must remain resilient in an ever changing world which is full of twists, turns and struggles...this tree endeavoured to grow, to push through no matter what and just kept trying to succeed and survive, and that's how I think of Steemit now, a challenge and something to look forward to each day.

---

Thanks for reading this brief blog/rant/motivational speech.
I wanted to just say that, you're not alone on your steemit journey and that I have total empathy for you if you're only getting minimal comments, votes and payouts. Those few cents or bucks for our hard earned efforts will pay off in the end...I'm hopeful anyway, and so should you be**

Points we must remember:

• Take your time to post good quality content
• Credit others when using Google resources
• Be kind, considerate and helpful
• Remember why you signed up
• Stay motivated and focussed
• Avoid plagarism at every opportunity
• Sign up to Discord
• And most importantly of all, HAVE FUN and make friends not enemies.

Thanks again and please feel free to leave me a comment, vote or re-steem if you enjoyed this post.

Kindest
Darren