em-BEAR-ishing hi-BEAR-nation

So a literal bear is hibernating during winter. This is because it wants to preserve itself. It wants to stay alive. In Winter, it’s hard to hunt for food. In Summer, it’s easier to find a prey. But in Winter, it’s very difficult, almost impossible. So what does the bear do? Hibernate; in our case, hi-BEAR-nate during this bear market. It’s emBEARishing, isn’t it? Relatively. Wink wink.

What is the purpose of hibernation? According to science dot org, “hibernation is a way animals conserve energy to survive adverse weather conditions or lack of food. It involves physiological changes such as a drop in body temperature and slowed metabolism.” This makes total sense. If the weather is harsh and food is scare, you had better conserve what you have. It’s a paradigm shift. You can have a change of mode. From active to inactive.

But don’t let appearance fool you! While animals may appear sluggish, let alone catatonic during hibernation, there’s more than meets the eye. Outwardly, they may appear inactive, but biochemically, they may just be firing on all cylinders. For instance, when people do fasting, it appears that they are not doing anything at all. But in reality, inside the body is operating. There is this concept called autophagy.

It’s been defined that autophagy is “the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer healthier cells.” that means that during inactivity without food, there are biochemical activities that make the body sort out cells, retaining healthy ones, using up defective ones, and even recycling raw cell materials and make them into newer “healthier” cells.

So what can we learn from all of this analogy? Well, during this bear market, it can be called relatively that we need to tighten our belts. It’s lean season. It’s not harvest time yet. We need to conserve our resources, but still focus on our goals. What ever your goal is, whether to launch your new NFT project, or to develop a Web3 product, our launch a company, you must stay lean. Bootstrap yourself. Now is not time for earning, but learning.

Now’s the time to strengthen existing partnerships and establish new ones. When CZ was interviewed on the podcast Bankless, he was asked as to what the best tactics are during this bear market. He said, hire talents. Buy equity, gain more holdings. Yes, right now, if you have a measure of capital, position yourself through your holdings.

If you don’t have cash, then you can still put in sweat equity. You can reinforce the current projects you have. Throw overboard those projects that may not have value in the next bull run. As what they say, it’s important to build something valuable during this bear market. For a time will come when projects are examined, they are going to be purified through the fire. Only those projects that have value survive.

If prior to this bear market you were just careless in the way you operate, now is the time to ask the fundamental questions about your project. What is my mission, what is my value proposition? Who are my target community, how am I reaching out to them? Who are my strategic partners? How can I learn more about my craft.

This is the season for preparation. Tilling of the land if you will. We need to cultivate the land on which we are going to operate in the next bull market. Another thing you must remember is that if you have a 6-month emergency fund, make it 12-month. After the pandemic, the conventional 6-month emergency fund if ever you lost your income has now been lengthened to 12 months. This is in view of the uncertain times we find ourselves living in.

Since this target readership is primarily targeted towards Filipinos, Westerners can learn from this as well. If you have a 12 month emergency fund, you can have that courage with less fear to be audacious with your project ambitions. But if you are just living from paycheck to paycheck, it may be very difficult to do so. Unless you want to hustle like crazy. You can if you choose to. You can cut back on your time spending watching cat videos. Instead you just be focused, putting in the work necessary to reach your objectives.

Therefore, NFT artists and gamers, yes it’s tough during this bear market. We may need to hi-BEAR-nate. But be assured that with the right mindset, motives, and effort, you are going to learn a lot in surviving this symbolic Winter before Summer’s harvest time comes. Take courage, nothing great came overnight. Moreover, you shall have become a stronger person, able to withstand whatever life throws at you.

You shall have conquered your fears and insecurities. You shall look back with pride that you have become a better version of yourself. You shall have realized that the true wealth is not how much holdings you have in our wallet, but in realizing that you are creating something beautiful (NFT) and valuable (usable projects) for people to benefit from.

Yes, having money or cash is just one side of the equation. But creating something for the marketplace with which to exchange cash is on the supply side of the marketplace. You see, crypto or money is just a tool with which we buy goods from creators. But if you are a creator, such as an NFT artist, then you are creating your own money, because people will pull out their NEAR wallet and buy your creation. Yes, not having money now is not an excuse. Money is not that important; TIME and creativity are worth more than money.

You may as well use your time and creativity wisely, for everyday that you are producing, you are compounding the potential for you to cash in on your creation in the next bull run. Moreover, during this bear market, the reality is that those who will create something valuable will be rewarded later on.

Look beyond the em-BEAR-ishment. Be a citizen of hi-BEAR-nation. You will reap the fruitage of your labor when the right time comes. See you around!