News and manipulation
The cynic in me is pretty much ready to make this call. Most news outlets in the cryptosphere are just propaganda tools to spread misinformation.
As a matter of fact, recently some "undercover" agents contacted some news outlets and got offered the secret menu. Biased positive ICO reviews, undisclosed sponsored content and other shady things that in truth angered me a bit.
In other words, if you are reading something on coindesk, cointelegraph and other known outlets, before you believe anything being spouted, check the sources of their sources first. Yes, just like that, sometimes the reputable websites fail to get information from reputable ones making the whole thing a bit comical to say the least.
Of course, we could not really prove these things, I could not sit here and tell you that I know without an inch of doubt that these outlets have become manipulation tools for whales and scammers, but if a wikileakian event was to occur, I would not be shocked at all.
Hope of Gain, frozen legs
Not that I'm making an argument against long term thinking or anything, but the dance does seem two left footed. "Oh, price dropped a bit, release some hopium article about an ETF" - "Oh no! big green candle, release article on Tether" etc, etc.
I believe, maybe naively so, that I could do a better job at manipulating the markets if I was given these outlets, but of course, this doesn't mean I would even want to. Why do I say this? Because the articles both for and against BTC's future, seem cookie cutter these days, and I'm sure that's just laziness.
At least, the markets have been experiencing stability of the likes that no one ever expected. Comically some are commenting on how stable coins are pretty much useless at the moment, since nothing seems more stable than BTC anyways, but of course, that's hyperbole.
Building in the shadows, the bullish case
The one thing that truly keeps me going is this aspect to be honest. Not the institutional investors that may or not show up, but the fact that even if these bear markets have affected marriages, as I'm sure they have, the true believers of blockchain have not stopped developing.
Differences of directions aside, the communities of the cryptocurrencies that are sure to outgrow the wild west have been constantly releasing updates, new dapps and initiatives that indicate, at least to me, true passion and resilience.
So, in order to keep myself sane and not succumb to FOMO or despair, I'm choosing to ignore the price, at least for now and keep on chugging along so to speak.
We could very well be in this bear market for way longer, we could even dip more, but I'm not going anywhere regardless, and THAT is my stubbornness taking the wheel.