Lee Garibaldi
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read

I really enjoyed this article and I completely agree with you. Medium is amazing. I only recently started writing here and I’ve not been consistent. You’re right though. I know the more I write, the more followers I get. And it feels so good when someone responds to something I wrote. It really is all about making a difference. Who doesn’t want to feel like they matter, right?

I’ve been answering questions on Quora since 2015. I don’t remember when I joined Medium but I read a lot of other people’s stories before I started writing. I was a bit nervous about writing here for some reason. I have a lot of anxiety about my writing even though it’s a passion of mine and I love to write. I guess it makes sense because I have anxiety about a lot of things. I had the same anxiety with Quora when I started and then I got thousands of upvotes and then I was awarded top writer. This was amazing to me and made me feel fantastic. I still enjoy answering questions on Quora and I am trying to start doing it every day like I did the year I made top writer (in 2015). In 2016, I fell off the grid because of a lot of personal issues and I stopped writing. I want to write more. I need to write more. I have so much to say. Like you said, something will always come to mind if you just make the time to write.

I’ve had many people (including young ones) contact me after reading one of my answers on Quora. I write a lot about my struggles with drug addiction, depression, mania, and anxiety. I’ve had people contact me saying they are depressed and/or suicidal and they need someone to talk to. And I love it. I love helping people. In fact, I just started working towards my Master’s degree in mental health counseling in hopes of one day being a therapist and maybe working with other drug addicts in a treatment center (rehab). It gives me so much joy when other people come to me for counseling and I have had people tell me how much I helped them. I think I could make a living doing that and be happy. And I owe all of that to Quora. My goal now is to do something similar here on Medium. I want to write and be heard. I want to build a following. I want people to interact with me and I want to help people. I think it gives me a rush. And I’m an addict so I’m always chasing one rush or another.

All of this is just to say that I too love Medium. And I really enjoyed reading what you wrote. And I agree with you that I need to write more. We all do; those of us who write sporadically. I always say I’m going to write everyday and then I don’t. I also have a blog that I’ve neglected. But I feel like Medium is the place to go. Especially at first. To get followers. It can be super discouraging when you write your heart out day after day only to get spam comments and nothing else. I don’t have much in the way of followers on Medium right now either but it’s much more promising than writing in my own blog. I’m going to heed your wise advice and dedicate myself to writing every day. Thank you for writing this article. Sorry for the long response. I just got excited. :)

Cheers,

Lee

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Lee Garibaldi

Written by

Mother, daughter, sister, writer, reader, editor, atheist, junkie, student, seeker of intelligent life on this planet, whovian, not sane, nsfw. On FB & Quora.

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