Always write down your passphrases, keys etc

I know you all know this already, and I thought of myself as a very careful person when it comes to security, but yesterday I very nearly lost access permanently to around $5,000 worth of a cryptocurrency. This is one that is actually performing well for me and, as it's staking, is starting to provide a decent, regular form of passive income that I'm excited about.

In short, to stake this crypto you are asked to set a staking passphrase within the wallet. I set this up a few months ago and, for some reason, didn't write down the passphrase at the time. Yesterday, we had a power cut so I had to restart the wallet. This meant I also had to turn staking back on and for that I needed the passphrase. Cue some frantic searching, guessing and sweating. I eventually decided to set up a new wallet, transfer everything and stake from there... that failed too as again I needed the passphrase.

In the end, I kept guessing passphrases that I might have used and eventually got it right (although this in itself may be another issue).

Anyway, just wanted to give everyone a friendly reminder to always write this shit down and keep it safe. I have now set a new passphrase, written it down in a safe place and another copy of it will be stored in a completely separate location.