Hello Steemit! - This is my first posting - I hope it is of some value, especially to crypto newbies but maybe to others as well.

I first heard about Bitcoin in the very early days - around 2010 or 2011.

I was working for a small charity offering I.T. support and tuition to other non-profits in my local area - Leeds, in England. My colleague and I talked about it briefly but he was very sceptical and pretty much ridiculed it. I was the 'junior partner' as he had more technical knowledge than me and, foolishly as it turns out, I deferred to his greater knowledge and we didn't speak of it again.

Then some time later, bitcoin began one of it's meteoric rises and I heard about it, I on the radio I think. I started reading about it and decided I was going to buy some.

But where from? I searched online but I was completely inexperienced and was keen not to get scammed.

After a few days I found localbitcoins but didn't act immediately - I was mulling it over in my mind and still wasn't 100% sure I was going to do it. I remember walking to work on the day of my first bitcoin purchase thinking, shall I turn home and get it done? But duty won out and I continued on my way to work. Big mistake! Bitcoin was at around £33 that morning. By the time I bought, in the early hours of the next morning, the price had risen to £87. Oh well...

Then, well, time passed and I sort of forgot about my bitcoin. I'd learned how to get it offline into a paper wallet and I knew it was at the bottom of a draw but, beyond that, I gave those strings of numbers little thought.

Then more time passed and there was another big rise in the price. By this time it was at around £600 but I succumbed to FOMO and I bought some more, excited by the possibility of making more money!

Not long afterwards the price collapsed by around 70%. I was gutted - like many of us I'm sure. I put it down to experience, licked my wounds and got on with my life.

Then, in 2016, another huge gain began which continues to this day. At this point though, I made the biggest mistake I've ever made in crypto - It had been a painful year or two when the price had been so low and I just wanted out - I sold my bitcoin, breaking even. Since then, the price of bitcoin has multiplied by six. If I'd hung onto it, it would be very handy, to say the least. I guess at least I did one thing half-right - I didn't sell at a loss.

Since I sold back in November 2016, I've again become involved in crypto - possibly over-involved according to my partner!

As the title of this piece suggests, I have learned some lessons from this journey and am still learning. I continue to make mistakes, letting my emotions rather than my brain take charge sometimes, but I also feel I am starting to understand this crazy space and in future posts, I'm going to elaborate on what I've picked up in the hope that I can help others to negotiate crypto in a better way and avoid some of the mistakes I've made.

Thanks for dropping in,

Mark.