Great article, thanks for writing it! I started writing for Medium about 3 months ago and have struggled with these exact sentiments. It is really hard to pour your heart and soul into something that only a few see and it has become discouraging at times. I recently shared this struggle on a Medium FB group and while not everyone could relate as they were more seasoned, it was a reality check of how well I am doing considering the short time I have been writing here. That helped me stay the course, like who was I to think I would be a magical success overnight! One of the big issues with my expectations was that my very first story was "featured" which garnered a ton of views and then it naturally went downhill from there. Now that I know that's not the norm, my expectations have leveled out. Thanks again for writing this - I needed to read it!