Before making back scratchers I had several other careers. One of my careers involved financial advice and money management. This was closely related to the stock market and, as you can imagine, had some good times and some bad times. The bad times often could reach the point of capitulation. Similar to Coronavirus now, you may have feelings like these:
Well, it’s all over. I am feeling the deepest despair. Everything is all finished, and will never get better. It’s time to throw in the towel, sell out and never return.
You get the drift. And you are probably just about ready to die by now anyway. All was well. Then the market fell 3%, then 6%, then went up, then fell 10% and then down some more, and then a classic dead cat bounce. (That’s an old stock broker saying that even a dead cat will bounce if you throw it down hard enough). Then it all goes down again. Your stomach is a churning pot of acid, and your whole being is in the middle of being dissolved.
That’s close to the definition and meaning of capitulation. It is just a giving up and acceptance of total and complete collapse and failure. It’s time to just check out of this universe. If that’s what you are feeling, it may be time to reconsider. It may just be your first investment rodeo, your first pandemic, or a combination of multiple catastrophes all at once. But now is the time to get a grip and review history. If you are a stock market investor, it is opportunity, at least if you followed the advice of the old time sages and kept some “powder” AKA “money” dry.
You might wonder why these wise words are appearing on a site that sells back scratchers. That’s a good question. The answer is there are just so many things you can write about back scratchers. I already make one of the best, thanks to suggestions and feedback from my customers. So there is not much else to say there.
So it only makes sense to try and provide some advice to customers who may have way worse problems than an itchy back during these pandemic times that are causing massive financial and social disruption. For many it seems like “throw in the towel” time. Don’t! It’s not. This has happened before. And it will happen again.
As an example, during the early 1950’s, (middle of the 20th century) when I was in elementary school, my mother would not let me go swimming in the public city pools in the summer due to the belief that the crippling polio virus was transmitted through contaminated swimming pool water. Most of the current population don’t even remember things like iron lung respirators, the March of Dimes and children dead or crippled for life from polio. When Dr. Jonas Salk and his researchers created a vaccine for this crippling disease, it virtually eradicated what used to be one of the most feared illnesses on the planet.
Instead of watching an endless cycle of fear mongering talking heads, be positive and take advantage of all the uncertainty and seek opportunity where no one else is looking. In that way you can turn despair and the feeling of capitulation and doom into a positive vision and a new reality. Remember, you were doing a great job before coronavirus or whatever caused a reversal and downturn in your life. This external disruption was not caused by you and was not your fault, but that does not mean you can’t take advantage of the circumstances.
So use the general capitulation and despair of others to discover opportunity in investments, career choices, or even better choices in totally disrupted service or other industries before the inevitable recovery begins. It will happen and you will emerge better than ever. Cheers and happy scratching.
Bill Grant
Creator/Maker
ITCHTHATBITCH Backscratchers
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