Opportunities galore... be excited!

We knew it was going to get worse before it got better, and it really hit today. The markets were in a freefall again and there’s no signs of it stopping… anywhere. As I write this, even Bitcoin is down 45% today. Yes, that’s not a typo — that’s a one day drop.

To cap off the day, U.S. stocks are now in their worst single day loss since 1987. This sucks. We all lost a lot of money today and these past few weeks and we’re likely going to lose even more money.

So why am I excited? Well, there’s only one thing we have left now and that’s optimism. I can check the news and portfolio every 5 minutes and promptly put myself in a self induced panic attack, but I choose not to.

Instead, I’m choosing to stay positive and look forward to the opportunities that come from this.

Every dire situation in the past has bred opportunity for people who seek it and can overcome the panic and fear. Even in recent memory, we can look back to the ‘08 financial crisis and see all the companies that were born during the great recession including GroupOn, Lyft, and Uber.

Whatever that opportunity may be — whether it’s new product ideas, investments in cheap stocks, or simply time for you to refocus — these opportunities are and will be out there for the taking.

It won’t be easy, but it’s up to us to take a deep breath and find a way to get through the shitty times so we can prosper down the road.

If none of the above helped, I recommend listening to Howard Lindzon’s daily pod he’s been doing called “Panic with Friends”. I’m almost through the first episode with Jim O’Shaughnessy and it did wonders for me. It’s always comforting listening to people a lot smarter than I am discuss the situation calmly and compare this experience with the last few crashes. It eased my fears and brought my spirits back up.

We’ll get through this.