Pain Is Real But Suffering Is A Choice
March 15, 2020
Global stock markets have collapsed by over 25% in the last 2 months.
Covid-19 has become a pandemic.
There is fear and uncertainty all over.
2 months back, I would have said this is all hyperbole and people are just spooking unnecessarily.
Today, I am no longer certain. All around , it is apparent that the world is experiencing pain and anxiety.
The pain is real and bad enough. We don’t need to make it worse by running all the doomsday scenarios in our head and agonizing about the possibilities. We should not convert the pain into suffering by building up anxiety, agitation and stress.
Pain is unavoidable but suffering certainly is optional and entirely up to us.
Focus on the present moment. The only logical thing for us to do to take all relevant precautions to keep ourselves safe.
After almost a decade plus of a bull run, it required the specter of a pandemic to push the markets to correct. The markets have corrected substantially and it could be sometime before there is any positive movement in the markets.
Investment is a long term game and there is no benefit in getting emotionally entangled into the day to day gyrations of the markets at this point. Keep your mental focus on your long term financial goal. Hopefully, that will keep you from getting emotionally distracted or disturbed by all that is happening.
