I shoot year round because I enjoy it. There's also the muscle conditioning that's needed to shoot and hold steady, the "bow muscles" just don't get used much in a day to day life, at least my experience.
On your strings, they did need replacing, it's the parts you can't see that normally break, you can't wax under the serving and that's where most breaks happen, they dry out and break, you can't see it unless you un-wrap the serving.
With the new cables/string, I'd suggest you get at least 100 shots into them as soon as possible. It takes about 100 shots for the string/cable to settle into the bow, even with high quality/pre-stretched strings. the issue is when you put them on the bow, they are not under tension. It takes shooting to get them adjusted to the bow.