Finding peace with never being a whole coiner \ stacker news ~bitcoin

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Finding peace with never being a whole coiner

3997 sats \ 32 comments \ @stack_harder 5 Dec bitcoin

Ah the unit bias, something so tempting about it, just to have one whole of something.

But it's a dangerous thought pattern. In my case, ironically, feeling like i needed 'whole coins' is exactly why I don't have a whole coin now, and really, never will. At 2k I thought I had missed the boat, purchased whole shit coins, and the rest is history.

Now in my case, I have had to make peace with my position, it's ok, I stack what I can every month and think about it as my savings, and regardless of anything else, it's still the best unit of value to save and preserve wealth. Every time my mind starts up the old 'if only you did this, then x' I have to just refocus on the present.

Being in bitcoin is a bit like working out in that, once you start lifting weights, you feel like you're never big enough, you're always looking at bigger dudes and comparing yourself. Feeling forever small is just part of the game, much like feeling the btc stack is never enough.

Now we have crossed 100k in assmilking fiat terms, the amount of people that will ever get a whole coin is also reduced, after all, even if you were a millionaire, you'd have to have a liquid 100k to drop AND you'd have to have a deep understanding of what btc is, otherwise, there's no way you would feel close to comfortable parting with that money.

So yeah, let's keep stacking and do our bests to stop living in the shadow of stacks that could have been

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2298 sats \ 4 replies \ @freetx 5 Dec

....and think about it as my savings

This is the right approach. Just keep saving, live without wasting money, and dip into those savings when its really necessary. Life will be good.

I have a story for you. I have no idea if it will help you, but it was important for me in the journey of my "relationship with money".

When I was in my early 30s, because of a project I was working on, I got to meet, hang out, and generally spend time with a billionaire. Not just a 1 or 2 Billionaire, but at the time he was worth about $18B - probably much more now (I won't name him for obvious reasons).

There is lots I could say about him, lots of ways I got to see the world thru him, lots about the family struggles and general legal issues that happen with the mega wealthy....but my most important 'epiphany' came from just pondering how ordinary his life was.

I mean he and I had the same cell phone, we ate the same foods, wore similar clothes, etc. Now none of this was some intellectual surprise to me....I mean I knew that just because a person is wealthy that they don't have some sort of extraordinary existence. But it was more of an emotional epiphany.

I used to leave my meetings with him and ponder all of that. What did it really mean to be rich? I mean like right now at this very moment.....one person has a cell phone, another has a cell phone. One drinks a coke, the other drinks a coke. One sits on a couch in an air-conditioned room, the other the same.

In the moment we call the "present", wealth really doesn't matter at all. Its just numbers on a screen.

Most of the reasons we are driven to acquire wealth are for some future concept. We keep imagining that "one day when I'm worth X, then I will..." but the weird thing is that day never comes. Because we are always just in the "present". The future, as such, never arrives.

I worked for 20 years building a small business (general IT consulting)....as I got better and better clients and made more money, it always struck me how unsatisfying the money actually was. Beyond a nice meal, decent place to sleep, and basic necessities for my family....money is sort of meaningless.

Acquiring possessions is a fools errand. You don't "own" that Ferrari. The Ferrari owns you! When you go to start it in 3 months and the check engine light comes on and the tire is flat, it is you who will be spending the day making phone calls and arranging your time to satisfy the car. You bought a fantasy...but really all that arrived is another thing to break and waste your time on.

I remind myself of this on days when BTC soars or drops, that in the end if you ate decently and slept in a comfortable room, your actual moment by moment existence of life was pretty much indistinguishable from a mega-wealthy person.

239 sats \ 1 reply \ @stack_harder OP 5 Dec

i think it's very true that in modern life, rich and poor have access to a lot of the same things, just the rich get a higher level. Whereas like 1000 years ago, the things a king could experience would be totally out of reach to any commoner.

in terms of philosophy, stacking and stoicism go together very well i think

206 sats \ 0 replies \ @freetx 5 Dec

1000 years ago, the things a king could experience would be totally out of reach to any commoner.

Yes, and by extension, the current poor have a better life then a 1700s king who lived in a damp, sooty cement box filled with mice.

in terms of philosophy, stacking and stoicism go together very well i think

Very astute point. They do. Stay humble and be in the moment.

63 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 5 Dec

Great reply. You nailed.

49 sats \ 0 replies \ @j7hB75 5 Dec

That was a great read. Definitely puts things into perspective.

Personally, I'm not materialistic and strive to have financial security and independence. I live within my means and live a simple life.

184 sats \ 4 replies \ @DesertDave 5 Dec

I remember when I had about 5 Bitcoin and my goal was to have 10. This was back in 2017-2018. But... I still had a to learn. I had margin trading to do. I had shitcoins to buy. I had CAKE coin in binance chain to farm. I am embarrassed to say I had some eth nfts. Cardano was going to save Africa. I was an idiot. I lost it all. Literally, all of it. It took me several years to get the memo, I have thick head. It crushes me sometimes to think about. Now I mine Bitcoin, hang out on stacker, and stack in the thousands of sats a day, tiny fraction of what was possible back then. And I couldn't be happier. I have peace now. Now I can fish. Now I have a real plan. We all get Bitcoin at the price we deserve and we WILL all be humbled at some point.

It's good to see so many people here that seems to get the real message much earlier and easier than I did. And I get to help them see. Feels so good to be here so early. Thank you for your post. This is important.

11 sats \ 1 reply \ @Msd0457890 5 Dec

We've all had different experiences with Bitcoin along the way, the important thing is that you didn't give up and kept going.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave 5 Dec

That's right. Bitcoin helps makes people humble and resilient..

11 sats \ 1 reply \ @stack_harder OP 5 Dec

that's rough man, lucky you didn't end up with derangement syndrome on buttcoin lol

while I lament not having a whole coin, I imagine that even if I did I would be tempted to think, 'man, if i just had 2' lol

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave 5 Dec

Lessons were learned. Now I can look back and laugh. I learned a lot about greed and my ego. I thought I was going to be a "trader" and make it big. Nonsense. I feel like once I learned that the real goal is to live simply and just stack, my life started to turn around. Took me long enough. But here we are. Can't go back. Nor would I want to.

48 sats \ 0 replies \ @Catcher 5 Dec

Name checks out:) there is always something in front of you. 1st it’s 1 coin, then 2.1, then 5 or maybe 6.25, whatever OCD person inside you tells you to believe is the perfect number:) you are never complete until you „have them all“

57 sats \ 1 reply \ @Aardvark 5 Dec

I thought a 225 bench press was a lot until I did it and realized I was a weak ass pussy.

Currently at 300lb PR, and I'm still a weak ass pussy, except somehow I feel even weaker than before.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 5 Dec

nothing worse than setting a pr and then finding some video of a Chinese 12 year old girl lifting the same, sometimes more weight lol

as with stacking, i fall back on, at least I'm a stronger / better version of myself

well, apart from with squats where i have an injury and am now limited to fond memories of previous pr lol

34 sats \ 1 reply \ @Shugard 5 Dec

So yeah, let's keep stacking and do our bests to stop living in the shadow of stacks that could have been

Man, I have been trying for over a year now and it is so hard!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 5 Dec

it is, i catch myself doing it frequently still lol

20 sats \ 0 replies \ @BlokchainB 5 Dec

This is my exact feeling as well!

17 sats \ 1 reply \ @zapsammy 5 Dec

is a hard fork required in order to remove the "." in bitcoin.sats format? or is that mostly a software-wallet interface feature? there are 2.1q satoshis: this move wud reset the unit bias.

2,100,000,000,000,000 sats people have a hard time counting zeros.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @000w2 7 Dec

bitcoins don't exist, only sats do

42 sats \ 1 reply \ @denlillaapan 5 Dec

Precisely. No stress, bruh.

stack what I can every month and think about it as my savings, and regardless of anything else, it's still the best unit of value to save and preserve wealth.

Knut Svanholm has a line in one of the books that says "if you have a single satoshi more than last cycle, you're a total winner".

No stress, just live

34 sats \ 0 replies \ @Shugard 5 Dec

"if you have a single satoshi more than last cycle, you're a total winner"

That's like JP's rule Nr. 4 "Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today."

22 sats \ 1 reply \ @LowK3y19 5 Dec

I like your weight lifting comparison

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 5 Dec

yup, the body dysmorphia is real

15 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undergotten 6 Dec

I remind myself of this on days when BTC soars or drops, that in the end if you ate decently and slept in a comfortable room, your actual moment by moment existence of life was pretty much indistinguishable from a mega-wealthy person.

Beautiful. Have some sats.

19 sats \ 1 reply \ @028559d218 5 Dec

I honestly found Bitcoin at the exact right time 'for me'. Any other time in my life, and I don't think I would have appreciated it.

I was way later than many (I hate that term because it's so relative) and yet earlier than a lot (by virtue of being here on SN!)

At the end of the day I learned about Bitcoin at the right time, because any 'earlier' and it would have been too early for me honestly.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 6 Dec

yeah, in reality, if i had been too early and not done the learning, i probably would have sold or done something stupid.

32 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei 6 Dec

I think Bitcoin, as awesome as it is, constitutes one aspect of our identity. If we cultivate a rich and nuanced identity that arises from many sources, we will learn to perceive Bitcoin for the useful tool that it is and not let it rule our ego

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 6 Dec

i agree, as with most things in life, ego is the enemy and must be kept in check

32 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl 5 Dec

Just DCA what you can reasonably afford to set aside every day/week/paycheck/month/etc while you continue to learn. Once you truly take the orange pill, you can switch to smash buys.

If you want to attempt to play the market in pursuit of an entire coin, here's a pragmatic strategy for normies who don't understand low time preference and bitcoin's absolute scarcity.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 6 Dec

if i ever come into some money via an inheritance or something, i will absolutely be doing a smash buy, or at least a series of smaller smashes on robosats.

after doing grid trading with bots, never again will go near trading lol

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @BitcoinIsTheFuture 6 Dec

Hang in there and stay humble and stack sats! I was an initial investor and had some Bitcoin and them 25 other garbage coins and NFT’s in “web 3.” I just stacked every day once I hit 100 hours of Bitcoin research.

We all all get Bitcoin at the price we deserve and that price is still “early!” This asset class has a lot of runway!

Stay at it all!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 6 Dec

i saw a post from someone who was worried about being late when btc was like a dollar, but i do still feel we are early in the grand scheme of things

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Msd0457890 5 Dec

What you say is very true and you are not the first to feel this way. Living in what would have been, in what perhaps I would have done to change this is mentally exhausting, it is a spiritual anxiety. We must all continue to grow, learn and buy at our own pace. Bitcoin will continue to be a strong asset and will continue to give value to what we can accumulate little by little.