20 , been doing intraday trading for a few months now. Something I’ve noticed about myself — when I take a loss, I skip meals, stop talking to people, basically shut down for the rest of the day. Tried a few things to snap out of it but nothing sticks long term.
Sometimes I think I should just enjoy life more, but honestly I don’t even know what that looks like for me anymore. Also catch myself comparing my progress to others way too much, which doesn’t help.
I’m 20, trying to build something real and make good money, but I don’t want to burn out or lose myself in the process. For those of you who’ve been trading (or just grinding at something) for longer — how do you separate your mood from your results? What actually worked for you?
Would genuinely appreciate any advice.
20 is gonna be like 1 of several cycles through existential ennui, my dude. All for different reasons. You get like a decade between them though for life to happen
Like the other commenter said, if you’re good at day trading that’s cool to make money and all but you’re basically living in a casino you’ve built for yourself. Judging by the other behaviors you’ve listed, that would fit the profile of dopamine trap-seeking tendencies that happens to a lot of young men.
I don’t know how to engage with that profession healthfully, it kind of seems like you have to have your face glued to a screen in order to make the cut. But finding ways to sabotage that dopamine drip would probably help you get some more activity going in other areas of your life.
Things like set endpoints for your workday, phone apps that restrict color after a certain period. Gamify some dumb little quotas for yourself like “every six hours of work, call my Mom or someone and check in” or “for every transaction I did today have 1 minute of no screen time before bed” or mandatory walk and snack break twice per workday on a preset alarm
Just speaking from having worked a couple jobs where screens and quotas were at play with my personal time.