I see what you mean. I'm experiencing a bit the same.
I think, as you say, is mostly a matter of luck. That the right people are curating on the moment you share your post. Especially from curation services.
The community also matters. OCD incubated communities could result in an OCD upvote.
I'm having my own Cyclingncommunity in their program which allows me nominate blogs in my own community for an upvote.
But understandably you cannot nominate your own posts. But it does help tour community grow.
I think it could help if we would have a better curation stream where people can filter out the posts they really like, regardless of the community.
I'm working out an idea to develop this.
You just have to expect nothing and enjoy your time here. Then every reward is nice. And bigger rewards even better.
Oh for sure, I am totally blessed to get the rewards I do. It's just interesting how the whole ecosystem works.