A Drop in the Ocean
A couple years in crypto brings on the grey hair for sure - I have greyed up a bit myself over the last few especially, but it runs in my family, so it isn't all crypto related I assume - most of it perhaps. Dealing with the ups and downs can be exhausting for many and I get messages from the couple friends in crypto who are "buying and holding to win" only, and I think this might be a harder path.
Holding is great of course, but I think that with a lot of people like my friends who aren't "crypto active" in any other way, they are likely looking at the dollar value of their accounts and seeing the wild fluctuations - sometimes they are well up and feeling great about themselves, other times they are seeing that value drop away significantly and are lamenting not selling at the highs or, getting into crypto at all.
This is different for the active people though and also depending on the path one takes. For example, an active and staked person on Hive might have the value of their account move up and down rapidly, but what they hold is constantly creeping up in volume - Even through a bear market. This shows "progress" even if the value seems quite flat, and those who have been in for longer now that earnings in the lows, are multiplied heavily in the highs - those 10% gains on curation and whatever can be collected through various other activities, add up a lot come the peaks.
But, the drops into the troughs never really feel that great, unless a person is looking to get in or, has a lot of available resources to get in even deeper. It is harder on those who don't have anything to buy the dips with, but hardest on those who rely on crypto as a needed income source. For most people, I don't recommend living off crypto, especially Hive earnings, as they are highly uncertain and can change at any time. This doesn't seem to stop people doing it though, but we each make our beds.
Personally, it is tiring for me too, but I am pretty well accustomed to living life in a fugue state of tiredness, which while not healthy, isn't the end of the world either. Sometimes I do wonder though, how long I can keep it up for before burning out, or just dropping dead, but I don't dwell on it for too long. this year I came close to the "drop dead" part and although not related in any way to my lifestyle of crypto on no sleep, it did make me think.
Near death experiences have differing effects on people it seems, with some wanting to travel the world and see the sites, or like me, it is a reminder that I want some kind of financial security for my family. Some people say "they would rather me alive than the money" but I kind of disagree, if the experience without the money but alive is terrible. Not that it is terrible for us of course, but part of the reason that it isn't is that I have worked my ass off to try and ensure it isn't. I have been somewhat successful, but to maintain it the way I am , I am going to have to work like this for the next thirty years, which is pretty much guaranteed to kill me early.
And, I think that this is part of the reason that people should take a "longer view" on crypto, as it really isn't very long at all. My friends for example who keep asking "when" on crypto, don't seem to ask the same of their other investments or jobs. There is an asymmetry, where they assume crypto is going to make them rich very fast, but they accept that they are going to have to grind away at their job til they retire. Yet, they put more of themselves and their investments into that grind, but almost nothing into crypto participation.
Perhaps if more people were on Hive actively taking part in the crypto community, they would start to not only look long, but also move their time resource investments further into crypto too. I was just reading a post from Asher (@abh12345) about the engagement on Hive and his lack of engagement in comments, but the reason is that he is participating constantly in so many different ways that he wasn't before. I suspect that time-wise, he is spending a lot more on Hive now than he was a few years ago, and that was when he was fulltime at it. Funny, isn't it?
I think I am the same, where I am writing less (in comparison to what I was in the first two years), but the posts are generally longer and, require more time. More than that though, I am active in more ways on-Hive with Splinterlands management and playing, and off-Hive with CUB and BSC, looking at trade charts and the like. But, I don't need to live off Hive or crypto and I don't use it, so this is all activity for the future, from a financial perspective.
However, from a daily perspective, this is activity I enjoy, where I can tie current activities to some unknown point in the future. This makes what I do not only rewarding in the short term feedback loops, but connects it to my long-term goals also. A lot of people who do a job for a salary get the short term income feedback, but the long-term goal is making it to retirement age, or a bit earlier if lucky. What they do daily doesn't really matter, as long as it brings a salary.
In my opinion, this is soul-sucking, as while it can be hard to deal with those fluctuations of the ups and downs of the markets, doing tasks that are personally meaningless for money has to be harder. At least for me. Perhaps for some people though, they like the idea of not having real meaning in their work, as it means they don't have to emotionally connect themselves to it and take less personal responsibility for the outcomes - just punch in, do what is told, punch out - get paid.
I don't know which is easier or harder on average, but for me at least, if I am not doing something that I feel matters, I am not going to be able to sustain it for long. What is interesting in regards to what I do here though, is that doing this provides me more energy of a sort to do those other tasks, as it binds them into part of the process itself. What I mean by this is, working for a salary (I like me job too) is part of my crypto journey, because it allows me to grow and stack, rather than spend - as well as invest into some occasionally too. They are in alignment with each other, both working hand in hand toward the same end.
What that end is, I am not completely sure yet - but the journey continues.
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.”
― Rumi
Taraz [ Gen1: Hive ]
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
