Gloom, but not doom.

I have been feeling a little low for the past couple of days because realities of life came staring me in the face and there was no hiding from it, I just hate feeling powerless, I dont operate well like that, it makes me feel like an underdog, and I hate being the underdog.

And it doesnt get any better that there is still that crypto ban issue of my country to deal with. It might not be a big deal to those moving big funds but it certainly would be if you are moving small funds, because either the peer to peer exchanges dont deal with you because you are talking about insignificant funds, or they would eat deep into the little money you are trying to withdraw by giving you ridiculous rates.

I dont blame them though, I mean business is business right? If I am in their position, maybe I would do the same because I would care more about making profit and getting ahead rather than trying understand what the next person's story is. In the end, business is business.

This new crypto regulations rolled out by my country, kinda makes my predicament more precarious because I had intended to crypto my way out of the mess I am currently in and this new reality kinda messes with my plans a little bit. I dont know, I just feel ahhh! Maybe its not just about the ban, but everything just came together to mess with my emotions.

I took a stroll to Publish0x to go check out whats cooking over there, then I run into this article written by my fellow countryman and he was ranting about the same damn new regulations. Hilarious! This ban irrespective of the possible impending solutions or workarounds to it, has been an absolute nightmare to many crypto enthusiasts in Nigeria. I mean, this is how we have finally created a job for ourselves and now you want to take it away? You want to make it difficult and make us sneak around and about like hoodlums? (LOL). The ruling class actually loves that term hoodlum, they tag everyone with it and it is class buffoonery.

Anyways, under this article in Publish0x, there was a comment under by another user who advised the writer to, instead of reading the news and focusing and writing on the negatives, he should focus on positives alone, on himself and every good thing he can think of. It was actually a solid advice, one only absolute winners would give you. You know the news have a way of keeping you focused on things that do not matter to your immediate growth, news would keep you glued and up to date on junk information.

I remember how scared and petrified I was during the first lockdown of 2020. I would glue my eyes to CNN and FOX News and they would bang on about those terrifying statistics, updating you on how many thousands have died in a very small county and all. My OCD levels went up a notch, I would wash my hands a thousand times, carry sanitizers about in my pocket and all. It was scary and that is what listening to new does to you. But if we do not listen and pay attention to the news, how do we know when we are being told to run? LOL

I have learnt not to read the news when I am feeling a bit low, its hard, easier said than done but I seem to have a detector that just automatically tells me to stay away. For example, when some people are emotional and depressed they look for comfort food or just any food as the case may be and they try to drown their worries in food or maybe drown the food in their worries. LOL

When I start feeling awkward, I tend to want to be on twitter, scrolling away like a mindless zombie, sometimes not even internalizing what I am reading or looking at, but I would just scroll away as time ticks away. This is my own detector, whenever twitter starts calling me too much, I just know I gotta stay away from news and updates.

There are things I have been doing to curb these emotions and stay on the right path because I am the head of my house, I have people relying on me for emotional support and stability and other kinds of support too (LOL)I cant afford to lose my sh**t, that would be a disaster, I gotta stay strong for me and for my family. One of those things is what I am doing right now, ranting online.

When I start feeling a certain type of way and I understand where it might be heading, one of the things I do is to disengage from real life, then I come online on Noise.cash or Read.cash to rant. If I am gonna talk about how bad I feel, I might as well earn money doing it.

The other things I do are:

I Workout: Working out is one thing I absolutely do not need motivation for because I love to workout, I love bodybuilding and its been my passion for most of my adult life. Lifting heavy weight and sweating steamy hot sweat always takes care of any bad spell I might be in. You know working out is a way of releasing pent up energy which is what those negative emotions are, bad energy. So when you work out, you are spending those bad energy and getting good ones in return. Try it next time you are feeling low, even push ups and situps would revive your mood.

I read Stoical teachings: This is what I have been doing for the past two days, reading up on teachings from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca. There is no better way to draw motivation than to get schooled by stoics. It works everytime. You get to see some of those things that bother you in new perspectives, some of them become less of problems and more of lessons. I have been reading THE DAILY STOIC. It has 365 teachings on wisdom, meditation, perseverance and all round art of living. That is to say, the book has a thing to tell you for each new day. I love reading it when there are no winds in my sail, it jots me back into focus.

I stay off social media: The little junk you eat, the little you will have to digest. Better to consume healthy information from a small pool than junk information from an enormous, gigantic pool. On Social media, there is no limit to what you are absorbing, as long as you are there, you will see them...News, porn, entertainment, politics, sports, gossip etc. Imagine taking all these in and not have mood swings. LOL.

Cheers!