Last time I bought Steem was when it was priced at $1.50 and I converted some of my shit coins and some extra money I had and bought some Steem. Half I powered up and half I traded whenever Steem rose.
Currently, Steem is at $1.30 USD and SBD is at $1.05. So it finally happened SBD is at pegged and some of the witnesses have reported having removed their biases.
With the low prices, you would have noticed that your vote value has significantly been reduced. Last January my 100% upvote would be worth around 51 cents. now with almost doubled Steem power my 100% upvote is worth 14 cents. More than a half of the value went down.
Everything has gone done from upvote worth value, rewards and, even engagement.
Everything seems bleak and sad for Steemians and Ned powering down 50% of his Steem power made speculations that Steemit has finally failed.
So why am I saying that we should keep Steeming?
There are fewer people posting
Engagement is down because there are fewer people posting and commenting. My own numbers in Asher's League of Engagement went down even with all the comments and replies that I have done because the usual people that I interact with are not posting nor commenting.
You could take it negatively or like me think that with fewer people posting then you have a better chance of getting your post seen.
If you are someone who posts good quality posts then Curie will surely come knocking on your door. Just look at my Comedy Open Mic entry Comedy Open Mic Comedy Contest - Round 18 | When you are caught cheating
I was pleasantly surprised to see it curie there through the 
Curation Rewards
Not that I was in the top ten but I was still happy to be in the top 30 out of almost 200 people. Even with the bear market, I have seen my curation rewards increase. It could be because I spread out a lot of my votes to good communities or it could be because I am getting better at curating. Hopefully, it is the second!
Dept Ratio and Steem earning
Have you noticed that lately when you receive rewards you get SBD, Steem and Steem Power? Well, I have and this is because of the debt ratio.
The Debt Ratio currently is 4% and this means that when SBD and Steem prices drop we get more Steem in our rewards.
@Eonwarped has a better explanation on it https://steemit.com/steem/@eonwarped/sbd-printing-code-walkthrough
So more of my author rewards are going into Steem and Steem Power which makes it optimal for me to keep powering up and reach my SP goal.
I try my best to still publish at least once a day but most of the time I can do twice a day! The rate that I amass SP has been so fast during this month.
Condensers and Apps
Even with this bear market, Steem has been steadily creating new condensers enabling us to be in the Steem Blockchain in a variety of different ways.
Dlive has becoming better, We now have a Wordpress Plug in made by Steempress and one of the most exciting projects that I see is 
It really appeals to me as a gamer and a writer because I get to be a part of creating something big. Imagine Magic The Gathering meets Crypto Kitties and all in a blockchain that can fully support it!
Here is my little explanation on what it is.
Steem Monsters | My trip down the Rabbit Hole
We also now have a new condenser for Ulogs.org which is a project by 
So there are some of my reasons on why I am still here and still Steeming, commenting, engaging and being involved in projects.
I have given a lot of my time, effort and some fiat just to see it fail. I still believe in the power of Steem and want to see it succeed.
So don't give up and keep Steeming. If you go back to Facebook and Instagram you don't get anything but vanity points that someone liked your post.