Loss of competitive in chess

Hi,i always played otb tournaments but from a few years i am a bit lazy to do them,i am playing only just for fun. But when suddenly i started to play chess just for fun, i saw that i got improve always more my level in chess. How is it possible? I mean,i stopped to play in "agonistic" way and i started to understand chess a bit more deeply. What do you think about that? Is it possible for me to get improve a little(just a little every year,never more) only playing chess just for fun without do tournaments? Mentally speaking,from when i stopped to do otb tournaments i am mentally more relaxed but my level of chess little little goes on to grow(sometimes i play also against 1800 elo and i win). This method is working fine for me,should i go on in this way? (even because in this online chess site i meet people much stronger than where i am).