Volatility: What Babies and Crypto Have in Common

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I’ve been thinking about volatility a lot lately, especially as a crypto and NFT investor. Also, as a new dad.

Believe it or not, the two have a lot in common, notably that there are lots of unknowns, but ultimately, the rewards far outweigh the risks.

Does it sound cold to compare digital currency with a child? I don’t think so — in fact, from a neurological standpoint, the experience feels similar. Once you commit, if you’re like me, you’ll have extreme downloads of bliss chemistry at times. And heart-pumping, stress-inducing adrenaline and cortisol at others.

Plus, I’ve heard both crypto and having kids described as volatile experiences. This implies negativity, which bugs me. After all, the dictionary definition of volatility is “liable to change rapidly and unpredictably, especially for the worse.”

If you embrace the fact that change is the only constant (which I completely do), there is no downside to transitions. No “worse” at all. In my opinion, it’s all about potential and possibility.

Yet, when I talk to people with kids, I can’t help but notice a sinister note in their voices when they tell me that my life is no longer my own. Or the random smirk on their faces when they tell me how I’m now beholden to the whims of a tiny human who weighs less than a bag of groceries.

This coming from people who say having a child is the best thing they’ve ever done.

My point exactly. Volatility isn’t easy — if it were, we’d all be zillionaires — but it’s the most valuable currency there is when it comes to creativity.

Unpredictability and the Birth of New Ideas

Creation as a process is a messy, unpredictable thing.

Of course, the OG creation was humans. And honestly, one of the coolest things about becoming a parent nowadays is how technology empowers us to observe the mystical, incredible process of gestation and birth.

Looking at a pregnant woman in the early stages of pregnancy, you might not know anything is going on. But at a molecular level, there’s a continuous stream of wondrous changes happening — from cells dividing during implantation to the development…