Trading To Know You're Alive

This is an excerpt from Picking Winners by Andrew Beyer. In this paragraph, Mr. Beyer is attempting to explain why someone would choose to be a professional horse handicapper and gambler. I'm sure he's reflected on this quite a bit because he dropped out of Harvard after nearly obtaining his undergraduate degree to pursue his passion of handicapping. Now that's a bold move to say the least. Here's the excerpt:

The capacity to enjoy: so few people have it. Most citizens live lives of such routine and drudgery and are so concerned about security that they cannot imagine how delicious uncertainty is. A gambler may have as many periods of pain and frustration as he does of exhilaration, but at least he knows he's alive.

I think most traders can relate to this. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not endorsing trading for the rush. Trading for the excitement and an adrenaline rush is a problem for many traders and I do not mean to imply anything positive about that problem. I think the above excerpt applies to the overall personality that most gamblers and traders have. You have to enjoy and thrive on uncertainty to make a living doing either.

I've talked to many traders who have been through many rough periods that make normal people wonder why someone would want to go through it. Their families wonder why they would suffer through months and months of losing to learn how to do something that may or may not work out. Many periods of pain, frustration and exhilaration, but at least traders know they're alive.

TLT