Back in the days when I was in school, me and my classmates used to play mendack. It is a simple game where you kick a small sand-filled pouch and try to keep it in the air for as long as possible. Your score is the number of kicks you land before the pouch hits the ground.
I was quite a good player. I usually ended up on the weaker team because I could score much higher than most of my classmates. The idea was to keep the teams balanced, but it rarely worked.
The winning team would climb onto the losing team's backs while tossing the pouch to each other until someone dropped it. Then the game would start again.
We kept losing. One by one, my teammates stopped playing. Eventually, the whole game disappeared.
If we had rearranged the teams and made them actually balanced, we would have won. But I did not want that. I wanted to defeat them by myself. My teammates were there for show. It was unacceptable for me to show any weakness.
Looking back, I realize I never really grew out of that mindset.
In a few days I am going to turn 26 years old and I do not have much to show for it.
Maybe if I had asked my brothers and told them I needed to learn trading from someone with experience, they would have found me a good mentor or sent me to an institution. But no. I wanted to be the one who helps, not the other way around. I wanted to learn everything about trading on my own.
My brothers, my sister, and I are close. The thought that they would look down on me for failing was enough to make sure I never asked for help.
Pride made me believe that asking for help was losing. Looking back, refusing help cost me far more.
If someone reading this has a family like mine — please ask them for help and guidance.
It might save you years of learning the hard way.
Bye for now, take care.
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