Wealth Anxiety: Do You Really Want to Get Rich, or Are You Just Afraid of Falling Behind?
In the cryptocurrency world, the most common emotion is not greed, but anxiety. You see people around you making five-figure sums from an airdrop, and a coin touted by some influencer skyrocketing in value, and you start to doubt if you are working hard enough, smart enough, or even “lucky” enough. This is not simply a desire for wealth, but a typical case of “wealth anxiety.”
It's not that you must make 10 million, but you fear that others are making it while you are not; it's not that you truly need financial freedom, but you are afraid of being left behind on the train of the times. This is a form of identity recognition anxiety: you start to feel that only by getting rich can you prove you are “right,” that you are “successful.”
The cryptocurrency space amplifies this anxiety mechanism to the extreme. Success here is too fast and too random; often, a single project or tweet can make someone famous or wealthy overnight. Over time, you can no longer sit still. You stop researching fundamentals and stop making rational decisions; you only want to “find that opportunity to double your investment.”
But true wealth accumulation has never come from overnight riches; it comes from repeatedly making the right ordinary decisions. Wealth anxiety can make you more and more like a gambler, ultimately causing you to miss opportunities and exhaust your energy.
If you find yourself feeling like you “must seize” every market wave, it’s time to stop and ask yourself: Do you really want to get rich, or are you just afraid of being left behind?
