Ok, I've been playing since the beta in mid-summer, so I’m not new. However apparently I haven't grasped the concept of leveling up. I spend most of my day exploring and doing other non-XP-gaining fun things.
Because of this, people who started playing well after I have far surpassed me in levels.
So I ask: What's the secret? I mine when I find a rock in my travels, I constantly tend my garden for ingredients to cook, and I donate to shrines as much as I can afford. And yet I'm still only 1/2 way through level 19.