There’s so much I can say but will hold back and just say:
You’ve nailed it that this is your writing journey and take the necessary time to grow as a writer and the rest follows if your passion is to write.

I have detailed stats—from the last 2 years; and the articles that are not boosted make at least 3 times what medium used to pay. The key is: engagement. Writers disagree with me…
So I’ll say: close data I’ve monitored unequivocally points to medium paying writers more.
Why do others not see this? Well my question is: do they notice number of reads, read ratio, the engagement analytics medium provides and what the average pay for minute is? I doubt any truly monitor this carefully or calculate it; I used to until I stopped 7 months ago when I started working full time.
Recently I went and calculated on my last article: same conclusion—medium pays me more today that in 2022.
Why would medium pay me more versus others? I don’t have a special or large following—especially if you notice how many have been around longer than I have or others who started after me with a lot more followers and write more/better. So Im not special—I just think:

Negative news flies and people latch onto myths here without carefully gathering data.

Ok I’m rambled—

Keep writing Shlee. Don’t let the negativity pull you down and stay away from the naysayers. This place has been around a long time—I think it’ll continue to morph just as we all do both as people and writers.

Hope it continues to be rewarding! 💛