Dear Bankless Nation,
Welcome to Bankless Hindi!
This is my first crypto cycle. I got into crypto after the 2020 crash and despite some wild swings along the way, I have never had a desire to capitulate (also known as selling and leaving) until just recently.
While riding a bull market and pocketing some gains draws most people to crypto, what really excites me is the incredible potential this technology has to not only transform our financial system, but to change the way we work together to solve interesting problems.
Sure, at times I’ve felt certain that BTC was going to $100K. In the past year, how could you not get excited by the amount of industry adoption and nation states exploring the use cases of crypto. Many times I have thought that we were moving past the pump-and-dump days. And of course we would go through super cycles with major pullbacks, but never the 90% drawdowns that crypto experienced in its earlier cycles. This time was different and anyone could look around and see how this was true.
Of course, those ideas proved to be mistaken. Far-fetched hopium pipe dreams.
We are definitely feeling the pain right now. BTC is currently down nearly 70% from its all-time high, and ETH is down about 80%. We have seen mass liquidations, whole chains go to zero, and hedge funds facing insolvency. The global economy is under serious pressure, with countries facing high inflation, stock markets already in recession territory, and the Russian-Ukraine war and COVID stressing supply chains as we head into summer facing global food shortages.
Everywhere we look there is fear, uncertainty, and doubt. FUD.
It is normal to be experiencing grief amidst all of this tumult. I have it, you have it, it’s normal. As the markets swing, so do our emotions. As hope and fear rise and fall we cycle through the five stages of grief, with most of us getting stuck at denial, anger, and depression.
All seems lost, the path ahead seems hopeless, and all that we have worked so hard towards and believed in so deeply seems to have been wasted. It is hard to accept our current circumstances, but without acceptance we are unable to work with our present reality. Unable to work with things as they are, we end up feeling stuck, overwhelmed, and at a loss for how to course correct.
How can we deal with this state of overwhelm and uncertainty?
It starts with awareness. Awareness leads to understanding, and understanding leads to acceptance.
First you need to be aware of your emotions, your intention, your fear, uncertainty, doubt. Notice how you hold that in your body. Maybe your shoulders are tight, maybe your chest is constricted. Most likely even your jaw is tight. It takes tremendous energy to hold all of that stress in our bodies, and so we end up feeling exhausted and worn out just trying to maintain our composure.
You are not your emotions. Emotions come and go, cycle and change. Just like the tides rise and fall based on the gravitational pull of the moon, our emotions rise and fall based on the gravity of our hopes and fears. Yearning and denial keep us locked in a cycle of reactivity, leaving us caught in the churning waves of emotion and unable to regain our ground.
You are safe. Despite the intensity of your situation, look around you, notice the space around you. Notice your body, your breath, connect with your senses. What do you hear, what do you see around you? Right here, right now, you are safe. Your portfolio looks like shit, I agree, but you are safe.