My story is quite different. I didn't HODL. I had cashed out whatever steem I had had ( All came through posting) in the beginning of this year. I earned well over 30000 INR that way. And now, when steem price is low, I spent 48000 INR to buy over 2500 steems. Even if the price of this crypto further goes down, my monetary lose would be around 20,000 INR, which is bearable!
All being said, there is no substitute for the time I have spent. I have invested a good amount of time just to understand this platform! Not to mention the exploration part!