I am pretty verbose myself and find that I am always running behind in replying to comments. Like you, I want to reply to people who take the time to support me and leave thoughtful comments. I ALSO want to go read other blogs and leave THEM comments. It gets a little overwhelming when I have a few days each week that I can't be online much and then come back to realize that the posts I put up got a lot of interaction. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it when my posts are not only upvoted, but actually insprie people to comment. That makes me feel successful/useful in a way that few things do. I just feel guilty when I can't keep up!
I follow a lot of people as well, but I don't know how many things I'm missing out on daily because things just move faster than me! :)
Your posts are so often thought provoking, and feel very conversational, so it's no wonder you get so many comments. Good luck with all that you do. You're awesome.