Invested Addiction

I guess there are two directions of addiction, one where you run away from something, the other where you run toward it. We often hear things like "he loved the bottle too much" or "they just couldn't give up the heroin" - but I think it is more that he hated his life so much and they just wanted to let go of their circumstances. The "drug of choice" is not object they are running toward, it is the avenue of escape for what they are running from.

So, where does investing lay on this spectrum?

I was asked if Splinterlands is addictive and the simple answer is,

Yes.

But, this closed response doesn't actually answer the question, because it it doesn't include why it is addictive and at least for me, this is important.

Am I running from, or to?

What do you think?

As I have written about many times before, gaming is often an escape from reality of some kind, where at some point like a drug, there is a law of diminishing returns in play, and even the enjoyment of the games wear thin, but hour after hour gets spent in front of the screen. For most games, the return on "investment" is approaching zero and if looking at the opportunity cost of the time spent, it is very heavily negative. Because of this, I think that for the most part, gaming addiction is an activity to move away from something, not toward.

However, if looking at the reward side of the investment game, is it could be considered running to a better set of conditions, which is of course simultaneously running away from current conditions. But unlike a game that sets engineered milestones, because there is an objective "better" through investment, I regard that this addiction is the healthier of the two. And then there is the willingness difference. A lot of addicts want to stop, but can't. Ever heard of someone trying not to make more money?

"Damn it! Why can't I control myself?! I just made another million! I promise... I will stop!"

But, what I think is probably the point that is the most addictive when it comes to investing is that there is skin in the game. To truly invest, you have to put value in and participate in the hope to be able to increase that value, if you decide to take it out. While a drug addict is trying to lose their past, an investor is trying to gain their future.

Make no mistake - it is still an addiction.

But, are there healthy addictions? Is it the average doctor's advice of "everything in moderation"? A gym addict? What about a person addicted to their job? What if their job is to cure cancer? Do you want them to stop?

I am an addict.

I am both running away and toward. I dislike my financial life as it is and have done for pretty much all of my life, but dwelling on the situation and doing nothing about it is an addiction of another kind. So many these days are addicted to victimhood status - "poor me" syndrome. They want to be saved from their lives, they do not want to find their own way out. They do not want to invest themselves. Because, they fear loss, so keep taking their daily dose of the status quo, wishing they could quit.

But, to quit takes willpower.

Do you recognize the nuance in this? Do you see how those people who aren't willing to "grind" to get to where they want to go, are willing to grind to stay where they are? Some people look up to those who are able to work hard as if it is a hard life to maintain - but, the hardest life to maintain is the one where a person lives in conditions they don't want, but are unable to quit doing what they do that keeps them there.

Yes, a lot of people will complain about that statement, saying that they didn't choose their bad conditions, but none of us chose any of our conditions. I have seen people grind here for years and only now, are they starting to see the fruits of their labor and while it might not be the road to retirement - what they do have is dignity, because they tried to improve and stuck it through until they did.

It is hard work to become an addict.

It is harder work to stay an addict. Most addicts are killed by their addiction, but when it comes to investing, it is possible to keep dosing forever - always looking for the new, looking to expand, diversify, grow, consolidate, explore, investigate and move. Movement is important and perhaps financial mobility is one of the addiction factors, where the more one has, the more options are available to take.

It is a game.

At the end of the day, all of this life may amount to nothing extraordinary at all and we all just fade to black. But if that is the case, why not play the game well and instead choose to just take what is given, complaining, but not doing anything about it? If all of this is meaningless, it is meaningless to take part and it is meaningless not to take part. Money doesn't buy happiness, but is anyone happy they are poor?

This is not to say that you can't be poor and happy, I know I was - but it is compartmentalized happiness isn't it, because even at my happiest in poverty, I wished I had a little more money. When I was happy in a relationship where we had nothing, I still wished I could take my partner out for a nice dinner, or buy some steaks to cook at home. I still wanted her to have a new dress, or for her to not have to worry if the electricity bill is paid. It is possible to be happy - but it is hard to be happy when there is the constant threat of not being able to meet obligations. It is hard to be happy when unable to meet some small desires occasionally.

Now, that is a grind.

I'd rather be addicted to work with the feeling that what I am doing tis leading somewhere better than where we are, than be addicted to the feeling of not having enough and not being able to do anything about it. I will always err on the side of having personal agency - but that might just be the addicted investor in me talking.