When the 'long-term hold' turns into a 'long-term hole'

I've been in crypto long enough to have seen a few cycles, but nothing quite taught me the lesson of letting winners run and protecting capital like the altcoin run of late 2021/early 2022. I had a few positions that were up 5-10x, and instead of taking some off the table to cover my initial investment or even a portion of profits, I just kept telling myself 'it's going higher'. The narrative was so strong, and the FOMO of missing further gains completely overshadowed any sense of risk management. Ended up holding some of those all the way back down, turning what could have been significant life-changing money into a good story about 'what if'. Now, I'm much more disciplined about scaling out once a certain profit target is hit, even if it's just 25% or 50% of the position. It's amazing how much clearer your head is when you're playing with house money.