1000 Followers

1000 Followers and the Power of Encouragement

Milestone Unlocked

A Milestone Celebration

Today, I celebrate a milestone on Medium! I recently reached 1000 followers, a goal I had set to achieve by April 19, 2024, marking a year since I published my first story. Achieving that goal four months early gives me a reason to write this story.

Discovering My Niche (or lack thereof!)

I don’t exactly have a niche. A lot of advice for new writers suggests that you must find a niche. Since my motivation for writing is not to make a million dollars (although a few bucks here and there would be nice), I haven’t concentrated on finding a niche. As I review what I have been writing these past nine months, however, I realize that I continue to use three words/topics in stories, poems, comments, and replies to comments. So maybe these combined are my niche: gratitude, empathy, and encouragement.

The Power of Encouragement

As I celebrate this exciting milestone, I am inspired to write about the essential role of encouragement in my journey towards success. From my perspective, the unwavering support and encouragement I have received from fellow Medium writers have been the driving force behind my progress. I attribute my ability to persevere through tough times to the uplifting words of my peers, even when they were unaware of my struggles. So, I urge you to read on to the end as I intend to extend my gratitude by highlighting a few writers who have provided extra encouraged to me along the way — my humble attempt to “pay it forward.”

The Components of Encouragement

When thinking about words like gratitude, empathy, and encouragement, I have come to realize that each of these has various components. I will focus on three aspects of encouragement that, when combined together, can boost someone’s confidence to a new level. Let’s take a look at how we can be effective in encouraging others.

Empathic Listening

Empathic listening is a powerful tool that can make a person feel genuinely heard and understood. It involves listening with your heart, connecting with the other person’s emotions, and validating their struggles with compassion. This kind of listening can boost self-esteem and promote a sense of connection and belonging, which we all crave. I have been inspired and enriched by the sense of community I have found on Medium. I believe that empathic listening is a key element of building strong and supportive relationships both online and offline. In the Medium community, our “listening” involves reading not only the words people use but also reading between the lines to see their hearts. We convey that we “hear” through thoughtful and responsive comments.

Enriching Affirmations

After someone has been inspired to step out and try a new venture, you can further encourage them by offering sincere affirmations for their strengths and accomplishments. These affirmations act as fuel for the inner fire of self-confidence! I’ll never forget the overwhelming feeling of excitement and gratitude (yup, I had to get that in) when I read the comments on the first story I published. Even as I wrote about overcoming imposter syndrome, I had the nagging feeling that I might not be good enough to write on Medium. But reading all of the positive comments and receiving the affirmation from “real writers” helped me believe I could keep going with this writing adventure. At 74 years old, this has been life-changing for me! Encouragement is a powerful action.

Empowering Expectations

Telling me, “I look forward to seeing what you do next,” gives me the confidence to keep going! Knowing you believe in me inspires me to want to do more, try different things, and keep learning to improve. You can do the same for others. Helping someone see that you believe in them and you are waiting expectantly for their next published writing, is another way to charge self-confidence and a desire to continue moving forward.

Conclusion and Gratitude Acknowledgements

I have enjoyed the interactions with other writers as much for what I’ve received as I have for being able to encourage others. When another writer tells me my comment made their day, it gives me a boost, too!

That’s the thing about encouragement. The effects of these encouragement methods — Empathic Listening, Enriching Affirmations, and Empowering Expectations — are profound. They enhance self-worth, inspire confidence, and foster a supportive environment and a stronger sense of community. When we encourage each other, everyone can thrive and be inspired.

“Helping others, encouraging others, are often acts of kindness that have more meaning than you may realize.” — Catherine Pulsifer

For all 1000+ of my followers, every clap, comment, highlight, and follow encouraged me to continue writing on Medium. I was drifting until I discovered this platform. I needed a sense of purpose. Although I am aware that my writing cannot change the world, the mere thought that something I have written could have the power to make another person smile, inspire hope, spark an idea, elicit an emotional response, provide comfort, or motivate, is more than enough for me. And I have gotten that back one hundredfold from you.

Let me start by mentioning the people in my “tribe.” For almost everything I have written, each has offered extra support, encouragement, validation, and motivation through comments and even direct messages (or whatever they are called on Medium). Each one is an outstanding author/poet. Please check out their work. I wish I could list something from each, but I understand that is frowned upon by the Medium gods. Names followed by * are editors or owners of publications. Here they are in alphabetical order by first name (or Medium name): Aleena G, Benighted, Carolyn Hastings*, Eiman Fatima, Emy Knazovic, Liberty Forrest, Author*, Marcus aka Gregory Maidman*, Noreen (Writer), Nour Boustani*, Priyanka Sinha, Priyanka Srivastava, Shanté Nixon, Shereen Bingham, Sinus Kosinus, Surekha Chandrasekhar*, Toni Crowe, Toni The Talker*, Trisha Faye*

Please know that I value each one of my followers and would love to get to know you better. Comment on this story, and I promise to read at least one of your pieces. That is how I will get to know you!

I want to thank the editors of Reader’s Hope for publishing this story. I chose this publication because it was created by Dr Mehmet Yildiz for beginning writers to have a safe place to publish their stories. Because of the steadfast encouragement from one of the editors of Reader’s Hope, Surekha Chandrasekhar, I gained the confidence to explore writing articles about several different subjects, including one article Cracking the Relationship Code: 7 L-Word Actions for a Deeper Connection, which was boosted! My journey to 1000 followers began when I was an absolute beginner. If you would like to write for Readers Hope, here are the guidelines from Dr Mehmet Yildiz: