Happiness, gratitude and investing
"It's not the happy ones who are grateful. It is the grateful who are happy."
Sir Francis Bacon, 1561-1626
Can it be that we have forgotten to feel happiness and gratitude with all the investing, war and inflation? How else can one experience again and again people (also on GQ) who "must" constantly pursue self-optimization with regard to "career" and "financial respect"?
[tl;dr] Happiness and gratitude are not the result of our ability or our financial possibilities, but favor on broad side of our everyday life that we can invest and afford our standard of living.
1986 - Born in Germany. A country on the jump. Soon is reunification. Germany is on its way.
2005 - Meet future woman for life.
2012 - I fought for a good job, which I still like to do 10 years later.
2014 - November. Late autumn. Just survived an armed robbery.
2015 - Wedding in summer. With woman for life.
Autumn 2015 - House on the outskirts of the city snatched. At a dream price.
November 2019 - "We" are finally pregnant.
March/April 2020 - Covid-19 reaches Germany with serious consequences.
Summer 2020 - Birth of our son. Without my presence - Covid-19 measure.
March 2022 - Invasion of Ukraine.
Also March 2022 - Corona/Covid-19 falls ill.
Today - ....
I was born in a country that has a social system. A country that practices democracy. A country that protects people as people and does not restrict their freedom more than necessary. I was born in a part of the world where for decades there was only one direction: Growth, success and peace.
I have never felt hunger or cold in my life. I grew up in a
I grew up in a country where I can listen to music, block out the noise of war, because the television can simply be turned off.
Millions of other people in this country feel the same way I do. In this part of the world. They wake up in the morning. Shower. Eat. Drinking. Smoking. Working. Meeting with friends and family. Going out to celebrate. Travel. And going to bed peacefully in the evening.
We live. We breathe. We are free.
And yet. Over and over again we learn: It's not enough. It can't be enough. We are not enough. We are arbitrary. Do something. Make a difference.
Never rest. Never rest. Restlessness in being. In the here and now. What comes tomorrow? Uncertain!
It is clear, the human being develops every day. Through self-reflection or influences from his environment, man is motivated to condition his behavior, to accept or even consciously decide against something. It is important that we adapt to constant change and new circumstances and are attentive.
In everyday life and profession this helps us to act with our environment or to advance our own career.
In investing this helps us to make changes in deciding against or for an investment.
They have one thing in common: they decide our future and its development.
However, it becomes problematic when we are constantly driven (and we are!) and thus go from being hunters (for success) to being hunted.
We accept the "hamster wheel", but at the same time resist being put into one by others... Those who find themselves in a hamster wheel deny it with a superficial culture of excuses. "My" job can be done in a cafe, after all. "My" job can be done from home.
I can invest from the park bench. On the bus. On the crowded train. Only on the plane it becomes difficult, but not impossible.
Constantly comparing prices. Putting performance before one's own door so that others turn green with envy or getting involved in unnecessary bets on the stock exchange in order to get something of the cake.
If we look back just a few years, this would not have been possible. A development for which we can be grateful, because it democratizes investing (copywriters regularly get unimagined orgasms when using this word) and thus makes it accessible to the masses.
The problem: we are a driven society. Instead of defining and recognizing this gratitude and circumstance as happiness, we self-flagellate ourselves with dissatisfaction, catch ourselves blaming ourselves, cut corners unnecessarily - to the end in itself of optimization.
Silence - Silence is what one would like to wish many investors. Serenity, which is absolutely necessary, in order to make the necessary objective second view possible. The big bear hunt ala @Simpson can wait. Not everyone is suitable for this big game hunt. And yet all want to participate.
One hears then here and there statements like: "But investing is my hobby."
One would like to wake up Demgegenüber. "Say, do you actually listen to yourself?"
Investing cannot replace a hobby in the classical sense. Investing has become an occupation imposed by society and politics.
If our life model were different, we could confidently do without investing and probably also without money. Nobody wants that. Also not I. So I MUST be forced to deal with it.
The self-protection mechanism then just pretends that it would be a great hobby.
And there we are again in the hamster wheel. We don't see the "happiness" because we are spinning in circles.
In turbulent times, this "hobby" suddenly degenerates into stress, panic or even anxiety. Someone explain this "hobby" to me. We are in the rarest cases hobby bungee jumpers, skydivers or racing car drivers. There, these conditions are normality.
Instead, we redefine investing the same way and elevate it in our lives. Investing should be fun. Of course, the gamification of an inherently stodgy, results-oriented and, in the classic sense, really boring activity of investing makes people try things out, prove themselves, compete with others, it enables our community - but it also brings despair, distress or anger.
And don't tell me it's not true. We have already experienced such emotions here, garnished with departures of controversial but at the same time committed members.
But now the question arises, how to cope with all these things? How should I correctly classify my success on the stock exchange, how should I deal with loss?
To disappoint you after these long minutes of reading: I don't have a universal solution to this problem.
But let me tell you this:
By becoming aware of the inconceivable luck to have been born in this part of the world, in our society, in your environment, is not to be outweighed by any loss or gain on the stock market.
You are the sum of all parts of happiness, freedom, the love of your parents and the glimmer of hope of the previous generations - that everything in life has a meaning.
Happiness is the word you miss in dark moments, happiness is the result that makes you enjoy your life. Happiness is the look in the eyes of your wife, your husband, your children.
The finiteness of your own happiness can only be limited by discord, exaggeration of impossible goals and quarrels.
All this sounds quite metaphorical, a bit esoteric (don't worry, I have no idea about it and escape from such people myself), incredibly old and old white man - posturing.
But it is my conclusion. My conclusion before I celebrate another birthday next week. I wanted to share it with you. In the dark, there is also light. Even if it's just a modicum of "luck". "Luck" is always there. Use it.
........
Finally I have to thank the donkey @DonkeyInvestor thanks. His contribution to the topic made it easier for me to finish the article. It would probably have been even longer.
#glück
#leben
#einstellung
#investieren
#dankbarkeit
#learn
#mindset
