depression has set in for most of us, page-42

Moly...

"Cheese"...you can buy cheese?

Ooooh...you lucky lucky bar stead...oooohhh, how I would kill for a lovely slice of cheese!

lol...sorry...I felt a bit of Monty python might help.

Seriously though...do not be too hard on yourself, I suggest most...and I mean 90% or there abouts...on HC would be in a similar situation.

Reading your post, the first thing that came to my mind was as an 18 year old, walking through the botanical gardens with my first serious girlfriend...we stopped to share a souvlaki together sitting on some strange bronze statue...it was all we could afford after paying for train tickets and the pictures...lol

But you know, these were some of the happiest days of my life...stress free and free of the control of money.

Life was simple.

Most of us have seen our portfolio's rise to great heights, only to crash back to earth with a thud...some stories perhaps worse then most, but I suggest most of the retail market (us) have taken a bath in one form or another.

I know exactly how you feel when you say days like today bring on depression...it can be very difficult to remain positive, especially for others like family and friends, when you "wealth" slowly disappears before your eyes. I personally use the term sickening though, because this is how I feel when I see the value of my shares fall on such days.

Then I think of my friends and relatives in the Kinglake ranges, some of whom have lost far more then mere money...they have not only lost their homes...but memories and sadly, lives.

It seems like such a lame comment...but really, if you have your life, your health and importantly, someone like your wife to share them with, you are not doing anywhere near as badly as some.

It costs nothing to go for a walk, have a cuddle, or play a game of cards together (strip poker?)...these simple things are often long forgotten during the boom days of easy free money.

I am a great believer in fate...things always seem to happen for a reason...it could well be that many revisit previous lifestyles, ones which were far more simple, far more intimate...and at times, far more meaningful.

Communications is the most important aspect here though...I fear many (and I know a few personally), are still hiding their losses from their partners...this perhaps above all else, can add to our levels of anxiety...and indeed, result in severe depression.

Honesty is important...at all times...and if you feel you have hidden things from your partner too long...fact is, you haven't, but you will have if you keep on waiting to tell him or her.

We all know how quickly we can make decent money in a rampant market...even 100% in a week became a bit ho-hum at one stage…how quickly things can change. The opposite of course will be true at the other end of the current sad period in the markets, when a semblance of good times return...likely to take a different form, far removed from the old easy money days...but none the less, they will return.

Our gals should be to survive until such times.

For many however, it may well mean effectively starting over again…so be it.

As they say, what doesn’t break you makes you stronger.

From personal experience, I find such adversities can often point us in directions we did not expect...or show us ways we may never have identified, or indeed, had long forgotten.

If we can be open to the changes around us...and changes they most definitely are…then the process becomes less strenuous.

Keep your head up Moly...and give your wife a kiss.

Cheers!