Price chart courtesy of coinmarketcap.com, annotations mine
I was planning to do some work on my various Steem projects tonight (I have so many now that it's hard to even remember what they all are!) but found myself instead just staring at the price action in disbelief!
I vividly remember having the same feeling of disbelief - but in the opposite direction - just a little over a month ago when the price of STEEM fell to the same price it has just risen back up to tonight.
Remembering that made me realize that our feelings and emotions are not really based on how things are in the present - they're based on how they compare to the past, and therefore how they compare to our expectations.
In January and February we got used to the price of STEEM being in the $5 - $6 range, and it influenced the way we acted and how we thought about the future (at least it definitely did for me). Then, when it dropped, all of those hopes and dreams were dashed.
On the other hand, once we got used to the price of STEEM being below $2, our expectations changed. Now that it's starting to go back up our feelings are reversed.
The point is that we can control our feelings about a situation by managing our expectations. Going forward, I'm going to work on keeping my expectations and hopes for the future grounded and realistic. I'll do my best to ignore the price action and work under the assumption that STEEM is worth $1 - or maybe even less.
That way I should be much better equipped to handle large drops in the price, in addition to large gains (here's hoping for more of those!). Easier said than done of course - so we'll just have to see how it goes!
So, no development work tonight for me, just a little dose of perspective instead. How do you deal with the price swings? How do you manage your own expectations? Let me know in the comments - I try to always upvote thoughtful responses!