Months ago I hit a rough patch, well a rougher patch and had to power down. Now, I regret it.
I have illustrated this regret with the following comic:
I don't know if I can say I regret it as I used the money to pay rent and eat and had no money coming in because of my disability but, man oh man, seeing my friends who started with me with insane account values and a friend who started before me with mind-boggling account values sure does make me feel the same sort of pain you feel if you recall seeing bitcoin on it's way up and ignored it and then later realize you could be rolling in cash.
Seriously, with the recent surge in steem value and considering almost a year ago my account was worth $4,000. Holy crap, how much would that be now? How does one shake the ragrets? I found out when I was a kid that my grandmother had been playing the same numbers in the lottery every day for like 30 years and one day decided to switch it up. She didn't get a back up. Her previous numbers won the jackpot. She had a mental breakdown. Called my mom sobbing inconsolably. That is kinda how I feel right now.
I am happy for my friends and everyone here who worked their asses off sharing great content and is now a minnow don't get me wrong. I just know that my $4,000 would be a lot more than that now if I had stayed in and it stings. I guess I am giving a cautionary story in case anyone is debating powering down. I know some of us need to power down but unless you legitimately need it and you will be royally screwed if you don't take the cash out then please, leave it there. Watch it grow before your eyes and then roll around in all the steem later so I can glare at you from afar while simultaneously being happy for you.
It's not over tho. Steemit is growing and new steem can be made.
I don't want to sound like I am saying if you cash out you should just leave, show's over. That is clearly anything but the case. I wouldn't be aggressively recruiting my friends to the platform if I thought they couldn't make a real investment with their time and energy. And the fact that I was at $75 account value about a month ago and am back over $800 now just goes to show you can make a fresh start. We all have our ragrets but we can learn from them. If you are a dummy like me don't despair. Grab a seat, pull out a hypothetical pencil, and write some great content!