I've been on Steem - now Hive - close to 4 years. In that timeframe, I powered up nearly every liquid STEEM I earned, bought more or held it as Steempower. Even when STEEM was over 3$ - I bought some & powered it up (well ... lessons learned)
Why? Because I truly believe(d) in it and in the mantra: having skin in the game.
However, as I learned my lessons I came to the realisation that having so much skin in the game, especially in regards to locking it up for 13 weeks, is some real A.F weight on thyself. And as I've been powering down for the past few months and selling a bit at the top of the bull-run, I've been honestly feeling this huge weight slowly coming down from my shoulders and my emotions.
Now, you might think: if you don't have skin in the game, you won't want/need Hive to succeed. But the reality is: I'm still a witness, I still own HIVE (not so much as HIVEPOWER), I've still integrated Hive into my new project and most importantly: my sentiment for this community hasn't changed. So I still very much want it to succeed (whatever that means ofc).
Another good point on why I believe that Hivepower can be overvalued is the idea that because someone has a lot of HIVEPOWER/is a whale, his/her opinion is worth more than someone with less/none.
The reality is, that IMO this kind of mindset can create an echo-chamber of repetitive thought-patterns and prevent important feedback from outside to come through - because that person "has no skin in the game". There are good ways to determine whether someone should be listened to - i.e. reputation, experience, etc.
But don't get me wrong, I believe that powering up HIVE is somewhat of a rite of passage, but everyone has to decide what's best for themselves and their health.
I came to the realisation that at this point in my life I need more freedom, and - for me personally - this is liquid ... HIVE.