Manuel Vargas Ferro @MOVF96: "THE EXHAUSTION OF LIVING “ON..."

Colombia

THE EXHAUSTION OF LIVING “ON THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS” For years—perhaps decades—we’ve been told that total collapse is just around the corner. If you scan the financial archives, there’s always a compelling reason to sell everything today: a bubble about to burst, an unavoidable geopolitical conflict, or an economic indicator we “haven’t seen since 1929.” Financial noise isn’t neutral; it’s inherently negative. And there’s a simple reason for that: pessimism sells because it sounds intelligent. Someone predicting catastrophe comes across as deep and prudent; someone who believes in the long term is often dismissed as simplistic or naïve. Yet for those of us trying to build real wealth, that negativity bias is the most expensive tax we can pay. The cost of always being on guard The problem isn’t just the headline itself, but the mental exhaustion it creates. Sticking to an investment strategy requires energy, and the constant barrage of “red alerts” drains it. Eventually, investors don’t sell because they believe the business has deteriorated, but because they’re simply worn out. It’s a psychological capitulation: “I’d rather get out now and stop suffering over what might happen, even if it means abandoning my plan.” That is the exact moment when noise wins and the strategy breaks. Uncertainty is the natural state of markets. It’s never going away. If you wait for the horizon to clear before investing calmly, you’ll arrive only after prices have already priced in that optimism—and the opportunity is gone. A mental framework to filter the noise To avoid destroying our strategy through exhaustion, I apply a simple filter: Does what I’m reading change the reasons I bought this asset a year ago? Most of the time, the answer is no. Macroeconomics is a chaotic web of variables no one controls, but good businesses keep operating, generating cash flow, and adapting. Bad news feels more convincing because our brains are wired for survival, not for compounding. Investment discipline isn’t proven when everything is going up. It’s proven when you’re tired of being told everything is about to crash—and you still choose to do nothing. The long term isn’t a straight line. It’s a test of endurance against our own need to feel in control. How do you disconnect from the constant negativity? $TSLA (Tesla Motors, Inc.) $NVDA (NVIDIA Corporation) $GOOG (Alphabet) $SNDK (Sandisk Corp/DE) $AMZN (Amazon.com Inc)