After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the donkey, but decided that neither the donkey nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. So he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old donkey in the well and put him out of his misery.
Initially the old donkey was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, HE WOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP!
This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!” He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old donkey fought panic and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!
It wasn’t long before the old donkey, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him actually helped him . . . all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.
THAT’S LIFE! THAT's TRADING!
Drawdowns and setbacks are part and parcel of trading. So when we face adversity, as traders we have two choices - go into end less loop of self-blame, bitterness and self-pity sabotaging our emotional and trading capital (OR) we refuse to give in, accept "What Is", pick ourselves up and relentlessly work our way out - one trade at a time, one day at a time. Sooner than we thought, one day not only we will step out of the well but also as a much better trader and better person!
Note:
I know as traders we would like to test out everything to verify for ourselves. But please make an exception here. I sincerely urge you to NOT push a donkey (or for that matter any living being) into a well to test above story.
“Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up” ~ Chinese Proverb
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