Is it normal to constantly obsess over a missed opportunity

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13 Comments

I'm starting to lose it even though I shouldn't. I was advised by a friend to invest in bitcoin in 2012... I was struggling then and I didn't know much about it so I didn't look into it. Well fast forward and friend is doing great and I'm happy for him, he had a crappy job and now he pretty much does what he wants. I can't stop obsessing over it, constantly checking numbers online, dates, what my roi would be which was millions (I had a small windfall of 8k and invested elsewhere unsuccessfully). It hasn't been a real problem until the last 6 months and now it's out of control especially the last 3 months. I need to refocus for sanity but I can't. I'll take any advice at this point.

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58% Normal
Based on 12 votes (7 yes)
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Comments ( 13 )
  • donteatstuffoffthesidewalk
    4 years ago

    i coulda invested in microsoft in 1985 but i spent my money on a bmx bike and a rifle

    i stand by my decision

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  • DIO
    4 years ago

    Can you go back to the past? No, you can't. So worrying about it is useless. Don't see what you could've done but what you can do. Do you want to spend the rest of your life doing something you love or focusing (uselessly) about a past you can't change?

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  • JellyBeanBandit
    4 years ago

    Well try to realise that you weren't stupid or anything for not investing in it, nobody back then thought it would be successful so most people who are rich from it now are just lucky idiots. Yeah they guessed correctly that it would succeed, but for the vast majority of people it was just a lucky guess.

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    • Lostinspace22
      4 years ago

      True, at the time it was nonsense... I mean there were stories like someone trading 10,000 btc for papa Jon's pizza so I guess it could always be worse. It still burns me up. I had a home and family to support and dumping what little money I had into a hail Mary commodity would have been irresponsible, at least with the info I had at the time. You can only act on the info you have. This helps, thanks bean.

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      • JellyBeanBandit
        4 years ago

        Cool, no problem.

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  • Mammal-lover
    4 years ago

    That's why I don't give a shit about investing. You can either become rich over might or loose everything over night. It's like gambling but higher risk. I only like gambling in video games. #zerorisk

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    • Lostinspace22
      4 years ago

      Yeah, a successful real estate agent said the same thing, at the time it was gambling into something unheard of.

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      • Mammal-lover
        4 years ago

        Dude I love lost in space. So gotta read the books.

        It is, if it works awesome. But if it doesnt you'll never stop kicking yourself

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  • Bluishorange
    4 years ago

    Obsessing about anything is a bad idea.

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  • Bazinga
    4 years ago

    Okay. Diversification is the only free lunch, and this is counter-intuitive. What most people will do is put an increasing percentage of their investments in the high fliers like Bitcoin as it takes off. Then, when the share price collapses, they lose all their money.

    To stay diversified, sell some of the shares of the winning stocks, and move the money to your other holdings. Then, when the share price collapses you have only a temporary set back. In general, 20% in speculative (stocks like Bitcoin) should be the max.

    Consider owning index ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). The S&P 500 index is popular. The biggest is State Street Global Advisor's ticker symbol SPY which spreads your money over 500 different stocks. You can buy it online thru Fidelity Investments. Go to https://www.fidelity.com

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  • KholatKhult
    4 years ago

    That’s why I don’t gamble on long term things like stocks and such. It would drive me crazy.

    All I can try to help you with is to leave the obsession of money away. When you work to be successful in other routes, through your community, through skills, through a hobby, you find much more happiness than interest in money.

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  • Ellenna
    4 years ago

    It's normal to regret a past decision, but not to obsess about it, because what's the point of putting energy into something in the past that can't be changed?

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  • Nikclaire
    4 years ago

    Chances are you would have either bought into a crooked exchange or lost your load when it hit $80 and sold it. You'd still be kicking youself.

    I made a lot of money on it by pure random chance and knowing the right people to do it for me and taking their advice. Otherwise I'd have fucked it up.

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