Hello there Hive world! Happy new year to all 🎊🎊🎊🎊

Around 1 year ago I was taking my very first steps into the Hive blockchain, stepping forward into this new world full of wonders to explore. My very first Hive post was on the Ladies of Hive community and it felt right to bring this special celebration over to this wonderful community. Also, the first one that welcomed me upon my arrival. This reminds me to thank you all ladies and gentlemen for the warm welcome given at the time 🤗.

Today, it's also the first day of the month and it's about time for my very first Hive Power Up Day post! Therefore, in today's post, I'll put together multiple celebrations together as well as mix them up with some reflections. Thus taking advantage of the seasonal new year's chiché and highlighting my hive achievements _{(note to self - ok, I sense this is going to be a long post... For a change 😅).}

About a year ago, on December 14th 2021, it all starts when my boyfriend founds the Hive blockchain through a game we both played. I immediately felt excited, all seemed just too good to be true. I mean, making money by sharing original content?? Communities for every like and taste??? A censorship-free space where I can speak my mind??? What??

At the time I was going through a rough time in my career since I was practical without work. I started obsessing a bit, and went into deep-dive research mode! I spent the next 5 following days reading several guiding posts, reached out in some discord servers and talked to @acidyo, the person who onboarded me to this amazing world and guided me on those first days _{(note to self - thank you again! I'm so grateful!)}

I then gathered my courage and spent days writing down my introduction post and for the first time in my life, I find out I was able to speak my mind.

No shame, no guilt, truly. Just me.

December 19th 2021 and I press that publish button! My heart was pounding like crazy _{(note to self - a little bit like now)} and I remember it was soooo hard to fall asleep that night. I didn't know what to expect, I didn't know what reaction I would get.

For the first time, my vulnerability was out there, somewhere in the void, waiting to be discovered. My emotions were on the roof, with a good boost of both terror and excitement.

I finally went asleep, woke up the next morning and rushed to turn on my computer and check if my post had any upvotes. I can honestly say that I expected pretty much everything...

Except this! 😱👇

I remember blinking and rubbing my eyes a few times because I just had woken up and it couldn't be possible! That morning, my post had received something between 300/350 Hive and I almost fell off my chair. The final result was even more astonishing!

It was a big entrance and I remember being so nervous about how to follow up on that! Luckily, I met there some wonderful people, a lot of which became good friends over the year! @ablaze's comment was the first one I read, @samsmith1971 and @consciouscat were just the sweetest and most encouraging _{(note to self - and still are!)} . It felt like a safe space!

Then things just grew very organically, I joined other communities, and explored other initiatives and different prompts. Met so many people from all four corners of the world! It is beyond amazing!

But that's enough nostalgia for today! Let's go over the progress and evolution over the year 💃.

As far as the reputation goes, it has become increasingly difficult as expected. I got up to 57 with my first post and it was a big jump! In a year I went from reputation 25 to 64 just in time for this post _{(note to self - ah, how I like even numbers 😆)} .

I know that from now on it will take longer to go up a level, so I'm excepting to be around level 67/68 by the end of 2023.

As for engagement levels, I've had multiple ups and downs, times where I was able to be more active and others not so much. 2022 was definitely a year of change for me in, possibly, every aspect of my life. Like every transformation, I went through some rough times this year but I'm glad I did!

Through this activity and engaging with others I was able to meet wonderful, like-minded people and beautiful souls. There's a lot of good in the Hive blockchain and so far I've been lucky enough to only have found the best here!

Now, let's go over some graphics, taken on December 14th 2022 _{(note to self - thank you @peakd, I love these)} 👇

There was a lot of activity around April, May and July and if I remember correctly, it was fun times indeed! I was joining a lot of prompts in different communities by participating in @dreemport challenges! I'm so grateful 🙌 has Dreemport truly knows how to spice up the fun!

Related to posts/replies there's a big correlation as in the more posts I wrote, the more engagement and increased activity I had. It was at the same time with dreemport I mentioned above 😁

As for Hive Power's growth, my big entrance was a major contributor factor. I got 157.486 HP with my first post and from there I had a pretty good amount of resource credits to engage and post with no issues.

I really like to look at this graphic from time to time. It's been quite a journey and I can see that my growth has been slow but steady, which I believe means I'm on the right track.

Consistency will surely pay off in the future and considering the amount of time I have to post and be active I would say job well done 😁.

Regarding curation rewards, I can also see that their variations are also linked to my activity levels. The more I engage, post, and interact, the more rewards I received.

We can see again a few spikes around the time I was most active 😊. I've been noticing also an increase in the daily curation rewards since my HP is now bigger. Most days I get 0.01 HP from curation only which is pretty decent in my opinion.

In total, and according to hivestats, I have made 861.97 HP as an author and 5.54 HP in curation! I'm thrilled to see this result and be able to share it with you all!

So now, the time has come to celebrate the Hive Power Up Day! When I began my Hive journey I thought it to be a cool target to have 1000HP at the end of the year and...

_Source

I've missed by a bit, damn! Due to work and other career objectives I've had to give more energy to that in the last months which greatly decreased my activity around Hive. However, I believe if I was able to keep the rhythm I would had achieve that goal 😊.

So, I decided to complete my goal using a little cheat code called Fiat, an awesome word I learned about on Hive 😆. As work has been going great and my efforts in that part of my life have been paying off too, I've decided to invest a little extra money I had put aside.

Therefore, this HPUD I've powered up 186.689HP and completed my 1000HP goal _{(note to self - yey even numbers!!)} !! 💃🤗🎊

I would say my next goal is to finish 2023 with 2000HP but I think I'm not going to create another 500Hive post any time soon, maybe never again 😆!

But who knows? Knowing the potential of Hive I know more curation rewards will come as my HP continues to grow organically next year. As well as I'll keep doing my best in trying to bring quality and original content to the platform!

I sense 2023 will be a great year!

Ufff, I'm glad I warned people in the beginning that this might be a big post 😆😅. If you bare with me so far, I wanna thank you for your time and for accompanying me in my journey 🙏.

It has been a pleasure and much fun exploring these uncharted territories and I can't wait to see what the future holds! May our endeavours be rewarded with joy, love and personal growth 🤗.

Oh, and the last thing, since there's no receiving without giving, 10% of the rewards of this post will go to @hive.fund as well as 5% to @acidyo.

See you soon 👋