It’s up and down, up and down. One day you are the king of the world, next day you are gripped by fear. Exhilaration and agony of defeat dance with each other.
Welcome to the crypto roller coaster car! Fasten your seat belt and get ready for the ride!
It’s the ride you can’t control and yet you want to make the most of it. We are humans. We love predictability and we love the feeling of being in control. Whenever we feel out of control, we get stressed. Stress of course is much higher if the stakes are higher.
Having said that, stress itself is not a function of events; it’s a function of the view you take of these events. The truth is that we can’t always control what is happening to us, but we can always try to be mindful, self-aware and centered, and in this way we can control our reaction to the external environment. This is extremely important in times of crypto volatility because the fluctuations can make us very emotional and can make us be more reactive instead of proactive.
Below are 7 tips that can help you stay sane in the ever changing crypto world:
1. Identify the stress factor
Whenever we feel stress, anxiety or other overwhelming feeling rising inside of us, it is important to stop, make a deliberate pause and ask ourselves: What is causing me stress right now? Sometimes we will be able to answer that question straightaway, and sometimes it will be a little bit more challenging to identify the stress factor, because it might be something that we are not consciously aware of. At this moment it will be very important to remain curious and patient, and do our best to connect with ourselves, and do a gentle inquiry as to what exactly is happening within.
2. Ask yourself: Can I control what is happening to me?
Another important element of stress management while hodling is the ability to distinguish between events / things we can control versus the ones we can’t control. The presumption is that in either case we are going to do our best. The difference would be that when we are in control of a certain event, we can somehow predict or presume what is going to happen, and thus have some form of readiness for the outcome. Whenever we are involved in a situation that we cannot control, like crypto volatility for example, there is uncertainty, and that’s making us feel out of control, which very often equals stress. We are human beings and we like predictability. It gives us comfort. That's why when we cannot predict the result of a certain situation, we get stressed. Being able to distinguish between what we can and cannot control empowers us to understand better what is happening to us and of course do our best.
3.Understand and manage your emotions
Let me ask you this - do you believe you can control your emotions?
I used to believe that we can control our emotions until one Sunday morning when a Buddhist master asked me: “Have you ever felt sad during a wedding? Have you ever been to a funeral when you caught yourself that you weren’t grieving?” My answer to both was Yes. It was one of these AHA moments when I realized that we don’t have our emotions - our emotions have us. That’s why you have so little control over your performances when you are under stress. If you can manage and keep your emotions stable, then you can perform with a stable of mind and guess what - that gives you a huge advantage and helps you avoid being impulsive. So how do you do this? In neuro-linguistic programming world we have a term called disassociation. That’s basically you “stepping” outside of your shoes and observing yourself as a third person. You can observe from a distance how you feel, look and sound like. That technique helps you disassociate from the emotion and the emotional response itself and hence allow you to make a more rational decision.
4. Educate yourself
If there is a new player on the market for example, read and watch everything that has been written and posted about them. Educate yourself. Information is power. If you are reading this, you are likely early adopter of what might become the future. It’s understandable that there is a lot of grey area that hasn’t been explored yet, and guess what - that’s exactly where you can also find the biggest opportunities and take advantage of them. By learning more, you will be able to make a more informed and educated decision when it comes to investing.
5. Create or join crypto mastermind network
Many times the questions we have in mind have already been answered by someone else. It’s also very likely that there are more people like you who are stressed and look for answers. You have the great opportunity to create and join networks that will help you and the others help each other. It’s very valuable to have a place where all of you can bounce ideas off each other, brainstorm and share more about concerns, trends, potential threats, etc. It’s almost like creating a “mastermind”, a team who is winning together by empowering each other, so be a team player and collaborate with others so you can give and share what you know while allowing yourself to receive and take advantage of what others already know.
6. If you haven’t already, learn to meditate
Meditation is a very natural, organic, cheap, convenient and easily accessible way for stress Management. There are different schools and practices for meditation, and there isn’t one single right way for meditating.
Some people recommend a specific position for meditation, specific mantras or meditating in silence, which is the case with Zen Buddhism for example. All this is very individual and will depend on how do you best connect with your inner self, and how do you best quiet your mind. Quieting the mind is something that's being discussed and seen as a main pillar in pretty much all schools of meditation. Our mind is very dynamic and full of thoughts, and that’s why we have evolved and we are who we are in terms of evolution. Meditation and quieting the mind is not about rejecting the thoughts that we have during meditatIon. The more we reject something, the more it comes back to us. Quieting the mind equals acceptance. Whenever you become aware that a thought is arising during your meditation, accept it, acknowledge it without pushing it back, observe it and let it go. There must be a reason for this thought to be in your mind. The more you accept the thoughts that are arising your mind and the more you let them go, the closer you get to a moment when you will catch yourself having less and less thoughts, after which your mind will become quiet and clear.
7. Learn how to switch off
Waking up at 3 am and checking the market is not going to change its direction. It’s only going to ruin your sleep. Yes, it’s important to know what is happening and yet as much as you can, try to switch your mind off especially before and during sleep time. Doing so will help you sleep better, wake up rested and able to fully invest your focus and concentration in the decisions you have to make
These are the 7 steps that I have seen working very well for my friends and clients, so please feel free to try them if you think they'll be useful for you too.
Good luck!