Some Things Always Change
You are hardwired to resist change. There is a part of your brain—the amygdala—that interprets change as a threat. It releases hormones and triggers a flight or fight response.
That’s a problem because change is constant.
Your body, for example, is in constant transition.
Molecules are altered as they enter your lungs and exit your nose. Your skin sheds 30,000 to 40,000 cells every minute. Your body is replacing 20 million cells every few seconds. On average—if you never cut it—your hair would end up as long as a school bus by the end of your life. You’re born with 90 billion neurons in your brain. And you lose 50-60 every minute you’re alive.
It’s not just your body.
Markets and economies are in an ever-changing cycle—growth followed by a flattening, which leads to a contraction. Then back to growth. Around and around it moves.
Since 1955, 89 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 have either gone bankrupt, merged with another firm, or fallen out of the index. One company dies and another pops up to take its place. The world marches on.
Darwin said all things in nature are derived from change. There is no progress without something being altered.
Put another way, everything has a cost—All payoffs require a trade-off.
Keeping Perspective
King Solomon ruled over Israel from 970 to 931 BCE. One day, he asked his minister, Benaiah, to bring him a ring with the magical powers of perspective. The King’s humble servant found a craftsman to create it. The craftsman went to work. When he finished, it was presented to the King.
There were four words inscribed on the ring: This too shall pass.
The King was blown away. He now had his mantra to remind himself that whatever state he was in—happy or sad—nothing lasts forever.
As Abraham Lincoln said of these words,
“How much it expresses. How chastening in the hour of pride. How consoling in the depth of affliction.”
This too shall pass. That cuts both ways. I try to remember when things are bad, they’re never as bad as they seem. When things are good, they’re never as good as they seem. And either way, both will come to an end sooner or later. This is the best way I’ve found to stay humble, present, and balanced.
Don Draper once said on Madmen,
“Change is neither good or bad. It simply is. It can be greeted with terror or joy; a tantrum that says, ‘I want it the way it was’, or a dance that says, ‘look, something new’.”
Life is neutral—it is the individual that places meaning on things.
Change is persistent. All things spring from change. It is a law of nature, life, and markets.
Recessions will come and go. Markets will continue to cycle. Our bodies will slowly decay. You either reject it or embrace it. But you’ll never stop it.
There’s a line from one of my favorite songs that goes:
“We’ll hate what we’ve lost but love what we’ll find.”
Life and change are both beautiful and brutal. Something can be both an obstacle and an opportunity. It is a matter of viewpoint.
Change is permanent and uncertainty is certain. Pain doesn’t come from change, it comes from resisting it. The one thing that doesn’t change is possessing the power to respond to it.
Lingering on the past won’t stop the march of time. Fantasizing about the future—about what may or may not happen—won’t improve your life today. The better path is a path of a present mind and a calm acceptance of the constant change of life.
Here’s to making money matter!