I think you are doing pretty well at finding balance... Of course you had to slow down from the amazing pace you were doing earlier, but I still feel like you are there every day with something important to say to someone... So to me, that makes you a very big contributor the the community! I know we would rather have 10% of @beeyou than none of you, so just participate when you have the time, energy, and motivation. ;) ... BTW, your 10% is better than most people's full effort, so just realize how much you contribute!

As for the investment in SP... you don't earn it back from using your votes to reward others. There is simply no way that you can make a decent return by doing that. So you have to choose what do you want your SP for?

1. did you buy it for an investment because you thought it would go up (ie a capital gain)? (if so, then the jury is out and may be that way for a few years)

2. did you buy it as an investment to earn an income from it? (if so, bad choice of strategy)... If you want to earn, you have to do as the big people do... a) sell you votes to either minnowbooster or bidbots (you will make a very healthy return of 20%+ on an annual basis) or b) develop a "scheme" that front runs somebody. Whether it is good posts or not, it is still a scheme that most people follow. If they know that x group or bot will upvote at x time, then you put your vote in front of that pattern. Its a scheme and people good and bad do it on a regular basis. Its profitable if you figure out the patterns though. c) you could actually curate good content that no one knows about and will be likely to be upvoted by the community. Since this rarely happens organically, then see "b".... You are wasting your time if you think there is very much that will go viral on its own with no bots, or support of some kind from some group, good or bad. That's just the way it is FOR NOW... One day it could change, but for now its how it is!

I think there may have been a 3rd reason why you might have purchased steem and it may have nothing to do with the other 2... And that is that you wanted to help others. While it is not profitable, it is nonetheless absolutely a valid reason to want to hold more SP.

So my guess is you bought steem as an investment for its potential capital gains PLUS you want to do some good with it by rewarding others in the day to day activities. If my guess is right, you will never really earn from the curation of your SP, but you could definitely make some great friends, help some people in need, and feel good about your day as this place tends to make people do.

This is a very good post @beeyou... I am happy to upvote it and sorry that I'm a day late reading it! I am happily resteeming it too, because frankly I think its something that most people think at one time or another... Its all about balance and expectations... Getting that right will make the experience even better :)