Today it is time for some social psychology once again. It is really interesting so I hope you will read it, as it might also help you understand your satisfaction or lack of satisfaction.
Let us imagine that you have $1000 UST in your wallet. Last week they were worth $1000, now they are worth only $100. These are the facts, this is reality. Now, how do you cope with this? Now it is time to understand the power of "could have."
How "could have" will influence your satisfaction...
So you have just lost approximately $900 in value due to the UST drop. What now? How do you cope with this? Are you feeling good or are you dead on the inside? It will very much depend on the story you tell yourself on the inside.
- I could have sold my UST one week ago and I would still have my $1000 today.
- I could have avoided crypto at all, and my money would still be around.
- I could have sold my UST and swapped it for Bitcoin, Ethereum, or almost any other currency, and I would have been way better off today.
These are could have sentences that will all make you feel bad, because you try to look at things that could have happened that would have taken you to a better place.
But, there is a different way to look at it as well. Check these sentences.
- I could have bought even more UST and then I would have even less now.
- I could have swapped my UST for LUNA, and that would have been even worse.
- I could have lost my life in a traffic accident yesterday, but I am still alive. Who cares about UST?
These are thoughts that will make the person who just lost a lot of money feel more satisfied and happier about life, even though he/she has just lost a lot of money.
There is a terminology for this and it is counterfactual thinking and it deals with thinking about how things could have occurred in the past (but they didn't).
All in all, the way you think about how things could have happened in the past will very much influence how satisfied you will feel in the present. Isn't that just very interesting?