Is HODL just a big JOKE? A [drunken] rant

I've lost thousands of dollars.

As simple of a statement as that is to type, it's an extremely loaded sentence to read. Your first thought might be, "fuck you, I've lost more." Or you might think, "crybaby, just trust the market will bounce back." Or you might think, "thousands? Fuck you I've lost millions."

This endeavor of crypto has been volatile, and exciting. For those with the timing and instincts to guess right, you got in early, and cashed out at the right times, while keeping some crypto saved to watch it balloon up past every expectation. Then when you saw the most recent peak, you cashed out and sat back laughing.

Good for you.

I recently saw an interview with Tyler Perry, where he spoke about why he decided to make his goal, owning a studio. He said, that without ownership, there is not true, long term wealth. That's what old money is all about. It's not enough to get paid, it's about having, investing and earning.

Everyone knows it sucks to be poor, but as a crypto-enthusiast, it has been a gut wrenching nightmare to be JUUUUUST poor enough to have had to treat my earnings in the market as income to pay for life.

I got in early and had BTC when it was still under 100. (Not as early as some who became mega rich, but still early enough to be rich if I'd been able to keep it.) But I couldn't keep it. I'm freelance, and when I tripled my money, I cashed out, and was STOKED to pay my rent with money that as far as my friends and family were concerned, came from nowhere.

And then it skyrocketed to $1000.

Then a few years later, STEEMIT came along and I got in early. Had an early account, made a GRAND off my intro post and was stoked. But the rewards started to dwindle, and life came along, and bills had to be paid. So I took a large portion of my earnings and paid my bills. And honestly, I was still pretty happy that I had been able to make digital money into rent and groceries. That's pretty cool.

Then a couple months ago, I realized that I had an old trading account that had some ETH I picked up at some point, and that if I really consolidated, I had about $25k in various holdings. My roommate was both excited to hear this, and also a little irritated. See the job that I had spent the last few months pouring my life into, still hadn't paid me, and had just lost a primary investor. The big pay day I'd been working for vanished in a heartbeat, and I was behind on rent.

But the market was up. Crypto was making a killer run, so I convinced her that I needed to HODL. Strong hands, I told her. That's what I needed, and in a few months, I'd be able to cash out a year's worth of rent.

And honestly, it was like as soon as I said it, the market heard me, and decided to take a dump right in my mouth.

So hear I sit, HODL'ing the coin as each and everyone of them races to the bottom. I'm hoping they bounce back. I know in my heart they will.

But will they?

Should I have cashed out and paid a few months rent instead of living that caviar dreams and champagne wishes life?

And is "ownership" in an unregulated currency, mainly traded like baseless stocks the same thing as owning property or a movie studio? Am I just kidding myself?

Don't mean to doubt, but I could use a little encouragement just now.

It's gonna be alright... right?