Great post! Good to hear the experience of a user who has been here through a bunch of ups and downs. I think all of your reasons for building up steem power are important. I would add that it will become much more difficult to accumulate steem power as Steemit grows. More users means more competition for rewards and attention. The growing value of steem power will make it much more expensive to accumulate by purchase. It is going to grow tougher to accomplish what you have done so far. Thanks for sharing with us.