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Anyone who thinks that they're not emotionally impacted by the volatility of the crypto markets may not have a pulse. We are not trading bots. We are humans and humans are emotional creatures.

Despite crypto holders having inadvertently forged some of the thickest skin in the financial markets around, and endless resolve for the blockchain space, constant change and volatility do take their toll. Perhaps most don't feel much within certain range levels, but there are extreme points up or down that do rattle even the strongest or most apathetic hands. 

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After holding crypto for many years, I've learned to focus on the number of tokens I've accumulated more than anything. They're precious poker chips to me and pathway to increasing levels of passive income. I'd say that I don't care or want to think about price almost 90% of the time. I've become calloused and conditioned to price movement over time to where it's not that important to me. I'll admit that the first 6-12 months of my crypto experience were brutal, but experience taught me that I'd need to largely ignore the fluctuation to endure in the space. Some of those I started off with succumbed to the pressure and sold off. Fortunately, some invisible force prohibited me from doing this, and I learned to carry my bags uphill, and repeat.

https://cdn.dribbble.com/users/1554124/screenshots/4125105/6.sisyphus_small.gif
[](https://cdn.dribbble.com/users/1554124/screenshots/4125105/6.sisyphus_small.gif)

^Crypto investors know this feeling all too well.

My callousness generally applies to whether the price is moving up or down. While my focus has been strong enough to endure plenty of storms in real time, over time, or flash turbulence I didn't even notice, there are points when happiness or sadness do show themselves -- and I hate when that happens. Ironically, these aren't tied to the paper gains or losses. They're actually tied to my hope for the decentralized blockchain space to win out in the long run, and my success in relation to it as well.

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#### First Question:
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Why do we let price impact us as we're long-term investors? Perhaps we can focus on extreme price movements that are often fleeting.

If we're so committed to these digital assets for a laundry list of benefits in the near, mid and distant futures, I wonder why we still fall into this pitfall to risk making emotional decisions. Despite pride interfering to deny it, almost everyone with an investor mindset will feel some level of emotional impact from these moves, which should technically be irrelevant.

As alluded to above, I've tied a lot of general hope to my digital assets where I associate their success with mine. Ideally, I view them as my tickets to financial freedom and passive income within a new financial system we were early on. They're my poker chips to cash in on in the future after actually beating the house, when "the house always wins." This isn't the best mindset, but I'm not a trader and need some type of narrative to rationalize holding and sacrificing some comforts. 

> While these initial investments were innocent years ago and experimental, they've evolved into a lifestyle after inadvertently becoming passionately and fundamentally immersed in this space.

For many, cryptocurrency/decentralized blockchain technology has become a means of income, wealth, how we spend much of our time, and a foundation/gateway to a brighter future. Despite best efforts to avoid this thought, price is often a superficial or public reflection of approval or disapproval of this. It's also a significant factor on the value of defi yield output for income, which is what I often focus on these days. 

When prices are steady or rising, it's tough not to feel a correlation of confidence with your aspirations and goals nearing fruition or reality. Uptrends lasting for many months or years can erode the ability of investors to entirely ignore this, as it gradually feels like stable footing.  I'm not talking about blow-off tops or capitulations that reset sentiment and prices back for extended periods, but mainly when strength is present. 

Now price does not equal success, the capabilities of blockchain tech, or our personal achievements, but increasing prices do tend to indicate more value and support for what we believe in here. It personally makes me feel optimistic that I'm on the right track and that the patience of holding/sacrificing will continue to be worth it. 

The same concept applies for downtrends, but with inverse feelings that can drag us down if we're not careful. Gloom can mount. We've invested so much financially and emotionally in this space, but sometimes the *emotional* investment teetering on edge is what I feel the most when things turn deep red. For example, does this mean that I'll need to hold, endure and sacrifice for even more time since the markets will have to rebuild slowly again? Do I have the strength to feel in limbo waiting for the rest of the world to catch up, and/or the desire to continue putting off some of life's comforts? Life is surely for living, but when fiat money isn't important to you, it can be a catch 22.

Now we've all chosen to pursue this path on our own. We've stepped away from the traditional way of doing things and know that it's not been easy. Realistically, it won't be easy for a while from now as well. The need to constantly remind oneself that you're on the right track with crypto is a challenge that'll hardly fade when adversity is everywhere. If anything, it'll probably get even harder over time as more adoption creates more conflict with the old ways. Furthermore, we'll need to make larger decisions for ourselves as prices may progress to tiers than we're not accustomed to managing quite yet. 

> Hopefully, our emotions will not get best of us to create indecision or erroneous judgement that could cost us years of sacrifice.

#### Second Question:
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How do we respond to our emotions from price volatility _when_ they do take a grip on us? 

As prices soar, will we execute our game plans to sell along the way and secure profits and/or passive income? If not, will complacency, excitement, overconfidence, disbelief, and/or greed prevent us from seeing the bigger picture to act when we need to? Can we follow through and capitalize, or will we be unable to detach? I'm personally afraid to sell, and of taxes, and it's cost me plenty of opportunities to compound my core holdings to this point.

Alternatively, as prices plummet, how does one combat that? Do you hold on for dear life, buy into the extreme fear, panic sell, or completely tune out of the crypto markets for a few weeks to avoid the stress? Is time horizon all that matters where these moves are irrelevant and that no action is necessary? 

There clearly won't be a right answer, but there should be a balance. As a broken record (problem now abundantly identified), I'm terrible at hitting the sell button on my core holdings. I have no issue selling defi interest or liquid earnings, but I'm emotionally attached to the rest since I want to see this paradigm shift fully through to blue skies. 

On the macro selling level, I tend to set key targets or dollar figures as triggers to make moves at instead of stepping back and realizing that a risky way to take profits. My biased targets are not in tune with the reality of the market, and in hindsight have been just _above_ actual major points of resistance I didn't expect. On the bright side, my tickets are still in hand and my chips are still in play. I haven't compounded some of my blue chips too much by percentage, but I also haven't had to pay taxes -- and I'm waiting for defi to evolve more so I can leverage them to earn yield down the line to possibly not need to. I also don't trade outside of defi interest moves, and I certainly don't short since a brutal mistake back in mid-2017, so my options are limited to mainly holding anyway.

I don't know about you, but when prices are at huge discounts, I'm fiercely motivated to generate some extra cash to tack on whatever I can. Even if I just grab a few alts here and there, it's an accomplishment I feel good about. I want to know that I went against the grain and took action to build upon my long term goals. 

Buying into fear doesn't bother me one bit. If the prices drop more, I get more aggressive to earn more and invest at prices I hadn't seen in months or years. The volume doesn't matter. That excites me since I'm usually terrified of buying crypto in green unless it's to spend on something immediately.

When things are green, I just farm staking and defi rewards and diversify with them. I don't put fiat in. I use my investments are my means of further investing, which I see as virtually no risk. This allows me to make swaps without emotion, and actually make some good reads and moves. Now only if I could remove the emotion from the rest... but again, some invisible force won't let me just yet.

The End.

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Obviously, you're not supposed to invest more than you can afford to lose, but what if what you've invested became more than that? Are you not supposed to hold what you can't afford to lose? What is it what you can't afford to lose -- the fiat, or the crypto itself? 

https://media3.giphy.com/media/kPtv3UIPrv36cjxqLs/200.gif
[](https://media3.giphy.com/media/kPtv3UIPrv36cjxqLs/200.gif)

I'm no expert here and am not trying to be one. I'm simply sharing my thoughts to both cope with the recent market and hopefully connect with others to offer some relief. 

Does anything connect above? Anything to add? 

Thanks for reading,
@steemmatt