We are all emotional animals and our environment affects each of us, though this doesn't mean we all react in the same way to situations. In the last week or so in my workplace there have been a few large changes that affect people somewhat, but the mix of reactions is interesting. No, no one is losing their job which is great, but there are reshuffles in the organization to better align with the go to market strategy. For some, the changes are understood and in some cases, even welcomed - for others, they are questioning their identity.
Same situation, different responses.
Time can make us change our response too. Well, time and experience. With experience, we can be conditioned to react differently to stimulus - hopefully better. This is part of maturing into a well-rounded adult at its best, or devolving into an unpredictable and volatile maniac at the worst. I am not sure which way you are headed, but I am hoping I am going more toward the former.
One area I have improved is in my reaction to market movements in crypto, where I feel okay when there are ups and, okay when there are downs. In the past, there used to be more peaks and troughs in my emotional response, whereas now I just get a little rise or feel a bit of disappointment and take the, just gotta wait longer approach.
Am I dying inside?
After a pretty positive day in the markets, there was a little bit of a dip last night which washed all of the previous day's gains off the charts. The little bit of a dip was pressure on BTC which saw it drop about 10% in an hour or so.
I felt almost nothing.
I also expected it to rebound again relatively fast at least in the short term, and then half a day later, it had gained most of the fall back and is at the moment only about 1% down over the 24-hour period. None of this is unusual, this is crypto. But, what I like to be aware of is my own behaviors and feelings at these times, because it is a good indicator of my investment maturity.
The universe doesn't care about fair.
There are a number of factors that go into this appraisal and I am not going to mention any of them at all, but I believe there are plenty of good people in the world who deserve better than they get from this life too. While far from perfect, I count myself among that number - I definitely count my wife and daughter, and they are ultimately who I am doing this for.
The other day I mentioned to my wife that it might have been better for them if I had died from the stroke a couple years ago, because they would have collected a tiny bit of life insurance (really tiny) and had the crypto to cover the other costs. 2021 was a good year for crypto, remember. She of course (social obligation) said that I am an idiot for having these thoughts, but it is just the way my brain works these days - far more unattached than it was, far less reactive.
There will be more cliffs on the way.
The trick is, not to jump. And I guess that for most of humanity, we have this "fighting spirit" mechanism that keeps us going, keeps us trying, at least at the level that we are comfortable - some of us even push past that and into the territory of discomfort, to be out of the box, away from the crowd. But regardless, life isn't really easy for any of us, because it is all relative. My living conditions are far better than many on earth, but does that mean I am better off as an individual?
It is comparing apples and oranges.
The conditions we face are so varied, it is impossible to compare standards, because experience of those conditions is also varied. The common denominator is that we are all human and our experiences are incomparable to those of others, because we can never truly put ourselves in another's shoes. We can calculate the metrics of what we consider better or worse as a group meta, but an individual is going to be impacted in unique ways and react in unique ways too.
The conditions that oppress one person, can be a driving force of empowerment for another. The excuse one has for why they can't is the same reason someone uses for why they can. Take away the conditions to avoid the negative, and potentially lose the potential to reach the positive. With each condition, there comes a risk profile however, making each change decision also risky - improve here, lose there. Take away that, receive this. Every opportunity comes with a cost, every decision has a win and a lose.
I have lost a lot, to get to today.
But I have also gained a lot on the journey. I feel that I am a better person for it too. I don't mean better than you or anyone else, but better than I was. I am also worse in some ways too, because the time and energy I have invested into getting here, used to be spent on other activities and I was in better physical condition earlier, but worse mental condition. And that is saying something considering I have had a stroke that has broken my brain in unimaginable ways - from your perspective.
You can't know how broken I am.
And I can't know about you either. But, we can share our experiences and try to describe them in a way in the attempt to close the gap, to help each other improve, or help each other avoid the pitfalls we discovered along the way. We needn't compete to beat each other, but instead, we can compete at a level to see how much we can improve together. If that was the general paradigm for humanity's actions, we would be far more advanced than we are. But instead, we compete to beat others, even if it comes at the cost of reducing overall potential.
So much potential...
So much wasted.
Talking with colleagues, the mention of the amount of sleep came up and how much we each get. I get the least by a long measure, but I also feel that I can't sleep until I have burned my energy stores. When I go to bed without the sense that I gave the day enough, I just don't sleep well. What I should do however, is find a way to increase my efficiency and effectiveness - to burn my stores faster for greater impact. Give the day my all, but in a shorter timeframe, that way I can sleep earlier without wasting potential, because I would have nothing left to give.
What would be the perfect use of all resources?
There is no perfect, but the quest to work toward it, is what keeps us evolving as a species, keeps us improving. But with each improvement, there is a cost too, which means that we are never working at full efficiency, there is always more to do - the fuel isn't burning clean. What do we have at our disposal is one thing to consider. More importantly though, is how we use what we have.
Burning clean? Or is there a lot of smoke, but little fire?
Sometimes, we just need a spark of inspiration, and conditions change.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
