People don't typically like to admit they're wrong, so you're asking for too much here. They'll just try to rationalize it. But the math can't be rationalized. No matter how you cut it, HODL wasn't the ideal approach. It wasn't even the safest.

You would have made more money with just about any selling at any point when it was over $10K. You didn't even have to sell at ATH. Then bought back at any point under $10K. No need to even time it perfectly or hit the bottom accurately. At a minimum you should have made a little extra cash. But if you were patient, you would have made a killing. No need for any active trading, just two extra transactions. You could then return to your exact same HODL position, but with extra cash in your pocket, and having a little extra guarantee in case things don't pan out.

Holding long term is a great advice originating from the stock market, when you have a DIVERSIFIED portfolio, that can handle a few bumps on the road. That's because historically, things like the the DOW have always been steadily climbing. It doesn't really apply to a single all eggs in one basket investment like just Bitcoin. That's a much more vulnerable tactic. Plus Bitcoin doesn't have a long enough history you can rely on, and hasn't even hit mass adoption yet.

I have some long term Bitcoin stashed away, but I'm still making a little profit along the way because you just can't predict what the future holds. Maybe the world will decide to adopt another cryptocurrency instead, or maybe a major vulnerability will be discovered in Bitcoin in a year. I'd rather protect myself. Things may not always pan out like you'd like them to.