You find out who you are when times are tough

I know things look rough in our community. Mania has turned into tribalism. Bitcoin is down more than 30% off it's all time high and may go down even more. Here's a little story about why I still believe and will always believe in crypto.

I was 25 when the 2007-2008 financial crisis hit. I had a great thing going. Married the woman of my dreams and was about to have a kid. Well the insurance brokerage I worked for went belly up. I was staring unemployment in the face with a kid on the way. I was scared.

I was also pissed off. The snakes that put us normal folks out of work were getting bailed out. Where the fuck was my bail out? Things got so bad for us that we lost our house. Had to move in with our folks. I felt like a loser. I had panic attacks. It got so bad that I was hospitalized for a week. I went to therapy and my therapist said one thing to me that changed my life forever: "You don’t know who you are until you face and survive hard times”

So what did I do? I hustled, man. I worked 3 jobs; fixing computers for old ladies, landscaping, food service, anything I could find. Finally landed a good entry level gig in healthcare and worked my way up over the last 12 years. Well guess what? I lost my job this year because covid crushed the industry I was in. This time around I wasn't even stressed. I lived everyday over the last 12 years like I'd lose my job tomorrow. I found work in 3 days. I didn't take a dime of unemployment.

I got into crypto in 2016. I've made money, I've gotten rekt but one thing is for certain I never stopped believing. Even if crypto doesn't become the financial standard for humanity in my lifetime I continue to study, invest, discuss with anyone that will listen so that hopefully my kids can live in a world where hedge fund managers don't determine that outcomes of their lives.

If you weren’t prepared for this dip, mentally or financially then take a minute to reflect. Who are you now? Who do you want to become? Staring a charts all day isn’t going to fix anything. Take a break. Focus on something else for a minute. Money is a conduit to accomplish goals, not the goal.

Anyways be smart out there. Things will get better. Crypto is not going away. We've survived worse.

Edit: appreciate the love guys. Honestly just felt compelled to share. I wish someone would have spoken to me like this and I guess the internet is a good place to be vulnerable sometimes.