It’s Okay To Be Scared, But You’re Not Alone.

“We’re in unprecedented times, there’s no cheat sheet, there’s no reading the back cover.”

It’s okay to be scared right now, because the world is scary. But, it’s also ok to talk about it with us. In fact, we are actively trying to speak with all our clients – and have been for the past couple of weeks. Checking in, touching base, and talking about the realities of our current state.

We’re in unprecedented times, there’s no cheat sheet, there’s no reading the back cover. What’s happening now has happened before, but how we’ve reacted as a society is unprecedented. We’re actively changing our own perception and preconceived notions of how we react to events.

Change is hard, we know that our brains don’t like change. We go out of our way to avoid making decisions because our brains are, for lack of a better term, rather lazy. Why make a unique decision in every moment of your life when you can rely on decisions you’ve already made. It’s why you likely go on the same walk around the block every time or, when we all still drove to work, you took the same route every day.

The very fact that the type of global response we’re experiencing right now hasn’t happened before means your head is on maximum overdrive; you’re finding new norms and building up new routines and practices so you can make it through the day. For me one of the simple pleasures in my workday was always making a tea in the morning, listening to the kettle boil while catching up with other members of our team and then getting a jump on my day once the tea had steeped.

Now the office is empty and the sound of a kettle boiling amid the silence makes the experience slightly more jarring than comforting. So, I’ve changed that part of my routine.

As we find ourselves reading about what’s going on, each piece of news slightly more worrisome, we’ve been deprived of so many of our usual emotional outlets. Because of this, we need to remind ourselves that yes, this is scary and our usual comforts and routines aren’t there to support us. It’s okay to feel anxious and exhausted at the end of the day as you navigate each decision manually. We’ve lost our “auto-pilot” for a lot of the easy choices.

Having to process volatility in the market and to navigate your own thoughts and situation on top of all that? It’s perfectly understandable if you’re not feeling particularly positive. Fortunately, we truly can help you with this, at least. Let us ease the burden of navigating what this means to you. Don’t be scared about your financial stability alone, let’s talk about it.

– Laura Whiteland, Associate Portfolio Manager