I'd powered down $9,000 worth of Steem in order to do so. At the time the price of Steem was low, and I assumed it wouldn't be difficult to regenerate that SP. Boy was I wrong. As the price of Steem went up, I earned it more and more slowly.
Sorry to hear that. I sort-of saw what was coming, because I was burned before ;) , and so I've been rearranging my life to get by with what cash I get. Sad to say, crypto is the classic feast-or-famine business; it helps if you can get my on a "famine standard of living"during the hard times.
If all else fails, there's Uber.