I started trading cryptocurrencies a few months ago. Previously, I hadn't participated in any stock market activities. Oddly enough, trading and investing made me realize how similar it is to real life. When talking to other investors or watching online vidoes, there is a lot of talk about the people who bought a certain coin at a certain time and now they are millionaires. There's also a lot of stories about people that sold bitcoin in 2015 and now wish that they hadn't. Among my friends and social network, there is a lot of talk of "I should've bought that coin" or "I wish that I had invested 6 months ago ". It seems that many people are upset with themselves for not making the "right" decision at a certain time in the past.
Don't be mad at yourself for not knowing the future
What most people forget is that they cannot tell the future. Of course, hindsight is 20/20! It's easy to say "I should've bought that coin a month ago" now that you know that it went parabolic over the past month. What about all the coins that didn't go parabolic that you didn't buy? Why not give yourself a pat on the back for not buying those coins? A month ago, there was no way for any of us to predict precisely which coins would give us a 10x return . We need to trust ourselves that we all make the best decisions that we possibly can with the information that we have available to us at the time.
My husband keeps saying that we should've bought Bitcoin in 2015. However, we are both fairly risk averse people. Knowing our own selves, in 2015, with the information available about BTC and it's future, we made the best decision that was right to us at that time.
Today, I sit around trying to predict which altcoin will be the next Bitcoin (growth-wise). I have investments in 9 different coins. Likely some will win and some might not. I do a lot of research to try to ensure that I'm making the right decisions with the information that is available to me today. However, no matter how much research I do, I cannot predict the future and, at the end of the day, each purchase is a gamble.
Life is just a series of gambles
Life is no different than trading. Life is a series of decisions and each decision is a gamble. We don't know the future - which job to take, which college to attend, who to marry, where to live, when to have kids, which school to send our kids to. These are all decisions that we make and life is full of them. On a daily basis we make choices and each of these choices is a gamble. It may not seem like a gamble because we make educated guesses about what's the best thing to do. But at the end of the day, they are only guesses - some will work out and some will not.
The most important thing is to never look back at a decision that didn't work out and be upset yourself. It's important to always remember that at the time that you made that decision, you were making the best possible decision with the information that you had at the time.
I heard a story of a woman who called 911 when a disheveled and incoherent adult male started banging on her front door at 2:00am. The police arrived, chased the man and in the chaos shot him to death. It was later discovered that the man had just had a car accident, was disheveled and incoherent from the crash, and was banging on the woman's door because he needed help. I'm sure that now in hindsight this woman regrets the calling 911. However, this is a prime situation to remember that in the moment she was scared for her life and acted in the best way she could with the information presented in front of her.
Dina