![](https://i.imgur.com/99u3plG.png)

It's been one wild strange ride for me with cryptocurrency since 2013 when I first got introduced to Bitcoin. I've had ups, I've had downs, and often long stretches of apathy. There have been times I've stupidly lost tokens not treating them with the care they deserve. And, more recently, times where I tired of reading nothing but posts about blockchain scaling debates or the merits of proof of stake and just quit reading crypto forums all together.

### *But, I always come back. I think it's like that with everything you truly love.*

When I stopped browsing and writing posts a while back, there really wasn't any one particular reason. I just got burned out on it all. I withdrew some SBD I had earned to pay for some Christmas presents and just kind of forgot about everything for a while. I had accumulated what I believed at the time was a nominal amount of steem power, but never really thought anything of it. I can recall thinking it would have been cool to take it out and buy something with it too, but never did because the process just took too long. Thank goodness for my impatience.

## Did I sure miss the point with Steem Power.

I'm realizing a lot now after several months off. 

First off, thank you Steemit gods for creating a structure where you can't mess up and impulse withdraw Steem Power. In retrospect, I probably would have just spent that SP on something stupid. 

Second, I never fully realized just how much you can let your SP work for you. If I did, I probably would be a dolphin by now around these parts.

# Curation Is SUPER Important!

I've always been somewhat of a lurker on social media. When I first found Steemit, I was much of the same. I upvoted stuff, sure, but never really changed my liking habits from what I normally would do on a Facebook or Twitter. Until recently, I've been the same around here too. I've been very cautious with my upvotes, too cautious.

Through some continued education and excellent tools developed by @jesta like [steemdb.com](steemdb.com), it turns out I've been Steeming wrong since I've joined. 

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## *I've been wasting my voting power.*
![](https://media0.giphy.com/media/GfAD7Bl016Gfm/giphy.gif)

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## Take, for instance, this past week for me:

![](https://i.imgur.com/a6q1YyO.png)

Just by upvoting more of the posts I like with the SP I've earned writing since last year, my upvotes are actually earning me about $20 per week! In the past used to *maybe* upvote a dozen or so posts a week. I probably liked more, but old habits are hard to break. 

## *Steemit is economically forcing me to come out of my shell.*
And it sure has been fun to do so. In the recent weeks, I have found so many more interesting people to follow and have been getting inspired to write a lot more again in the process. And, I'm passively earning more in Steem than I did in many weeks last year forcing myself to write about fantasy football.

I just wish I would have realized this much sooner. I might have actually been inspired to write more and learned more from the community instead of burning myself out like I did.

So, if you are new to Steemit or have been here for a while and have forgotten, learn from my lesson: 

## BRANCH OUT, FIND CONTENT YOU LIKE, AND USE ALL YOUR AVAILABLE UPVOTES! 


I promise it will be worth it in the end!


[![@teamleibinz](https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/olhuYuH.png)](https://steemit.com/@team-leibniz)