Oh Phillip, there’s so much to respond to and so many thoughts! I could have several cups of tea as we talked this out.
First of all, I’m a fan. Whether you come read or not—please have the freedom, ease and comfort of just reading stories of mine that are of interest—no obligation required!
I’m doing the same—
For months in my early journey, I read everyone who read me. I extend courtesies always—but I’m choosy about follows now. And subscribers are my bread and butter—I will read over 70% of who I suscribe to, and those who I suscribe to who publish very little, I’ll read 100% of their articles.
I only have so much time and I’m beginning to be more balanced with medium.
I cannot spend my entire day on Medium—it’s not being smart and it’s not realistic.
I actually really enjoy it, but even health wise and monetarily, it’s not helping me with my other goals.
Medium keeps me accountable to growing in an area I’ve fallen in love with recently: writing.
If I don’t exercise it, it will not better nor grow.
Reading you and so many others is what teaches me.
You are a clean and honest writer—love your fun-loving humor and the topics you choose to write about.
We all evolve here in Medium and please keep “trucking”—you’ll continue to see more clearly what works for you and doesn’t in the first year.
I’m convinced to find those sincere readers who really want to read us regardless of what we write: takes years.

Btw—when Annie lost all those followers, that was a time when we all did.
Medium did a clean up and eliminated a lot of bots and fake accounts. If you ever see that happen again—that’s what’s going on.
If I’m not mistaken about the time she mentioned those drops…

Enjoyed your article! Keep writing ✍🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽