This question takes me to the beginning of my experience in this community, when I was a newcomer and did not know in detail the experience; I found myself with the opportunity to participate in contests through a laborious research in which I found great initiatives of fabulous people in groups of varied countries. It is worth mentioning that in this search I came across the incredible SteemShip community, through which I have come across wonderful people and excellent ideas and publications.

I have participated in dozens of contests and challenges; from the beginning it showed positive fruits, since they encourage interaction between users, so I have found great posts and great people, as well as great support from other participants.

However, the first time I won a contest was back in March. I remember not having high hopes of winning, as the contest had more than 50 participants and it was hard for me to visualize a victory among so many good entries. But, anyway, I was happy and motivated to participate; I put all of myself into an excellent post that I am proud of to this day. In it I used all my known writing tools and talked about very close and personal topics.

The wait to obtain results was long; the weight of time was so heavy that I completely forgot the existence of such contest, immersed in my routine and my occupations.

Contrary to my low expectations, days later I entered the community willing to spend some time and share; and surprise! I had the first place. At first, I could not believe it. I felt paralyzed and cold with shock. I checked the post several times looking for an error, but there was none. The first place was mine. I felt such a huge thrill that I jumped up on my toes and ran to tell my family, who responded with great joy. It was a gratifying experience to receive the award; I felt appreciated and taken into account.

This experience really motivated me to keep going. Thanks to these first awards I was inspired to grow in the community and dedicate myself fully to it, interacting and publishing daily. It was no longer just about the money, but about sharing, meeting people, cultures and communities, reading and writing.

Therefore, my first award was the ultimate motivation that I needed so much. At the same time, it also made me feel appreciated, happy and lucky.

So, the answer to the question would be:

• Motivation, because it pushed me to move forward and continue to actively participate in the community.

• Happiness, because the fact of receiving an award is already a blessing for me, but the fact that it was the first one made me feel an explosion of joy.

• Lucky, because it was a contest with many equally good entries and I was the winner.

• Appreciated, because the person who reviewed my publication realized the effort and dedication it took me to write, so he rewarded me with an enormous honor.

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All the photos used here were taken by me, Isabella Moreno, exclusively for this contest.

This post was shared in twitter here.

I invite @ellieth, @alzarzilsiam, @yenni.carolina and @chretien to participate.

Thank you so much for reading!