I used to work on Wall Street. The market was so exciting—it changed every day. We never knew what was going to happen from one day to the next. Some days, of course, were better than others. Some days meant a lot of hand-holding with customers or just plain angst knowing there wasn’t a whole lot we could do but ride the storm. And other days were brilliant and we just about skipped our way home.

I’ve never been a trader, but I have heard people say, “I don’t have the stomach for that,” or “I could never do that job.” I completely understand why people would say that. It is crazy, there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty, and one definitely has to have the right temperament to be a trader, for sure. But the truth is, life is exactly like trading the market—every day has its fair share of uncertainty. But with trading, the only thing at risk is money, with life, that’s not always true.

With life, we have this illusion of control. Every day we make calculated decisions about everything so that we “maintain” this control, but do we really have control at all? Arguably the market is exactly like life, we never know what the next day will bring. And the control we are convinced we have, is illusive at best. What if, instead of constantly trying to maintain this sense of control, we simply decided to enjoy the journey. We would relinquish resistance—which comes with push energy—and we would simply surrender to the journey. This doesn’t mean we give up our drive or our tenacity, it simply means we have accepted we are on journey that we simply do not have control over no matter how hard we try. That sounds good to me. You?

With Gratiude,

Beth