Being a constant voter might be rewarding but the consequence is that your vote weight is constantly declining if you're not taking the time to let it recover it's easier said than done.
What if you have wanted to stay on the chain for hours and because your weight has declined, is it normal to drop only comments without voting?
Well, just as you have said, it is important to grow one´s stake so you don´t have to keep relying on a big whale to keep coming around every time. It´s not easy but one just have to keep growing because someday, an exponential growth will occur, it is just a matter of time because Hive is a good investment platform.