I struggled for a couple of weeks and found myself going back to my old emotional habits. Bella reminded me at the expo a couple of weeks back that I tried quitting the firm after struggling after my first five months trading live. Steve helped me turn things around by working on my emotional rants: banging, cursing, bitching, etc. The market hadn’t really changed that dramatically to bring that back but I found myself just being mentally and emotionally exhausted every day. I hadn’t taken a vacation in about a year and figured it was a good time to enjoy myself.

So I went away for relaxing week out in San Diego. I must say that after several years of not being out there I had a terrific time. The hotel Ivy was just incredible, the food the concierge recommended was incredible – a bit of a rip in my pocket but just delicious overall. If you are ever around you must definitely have to check out this place called neighborhood on G St between 7th and 8th Avenues. Hands down best burger I’ve ever had. And now don’t even get me started on the Yellowtail Pale Ale, that is one of the tastiest most refreshing pale ales I have ever had.

The point of this blog is not to brag about the fun times out there. I simply want to remind you that as a trader you need to get your time away when your body and mind asks for it. You don’t necessarily have to go all out and dig a deeper whole into your trading account when you are having a bad month but you should definitely spend sometime relaxing. It certainly doesn’t mean to go out on vacation every time you start to struggle or get on a slump as this is not the solution either. There is a very fine line between taking some time off because you need a break and going away because you do not want to work on your trading skills.

I spent some time thinking about my trading and doing my visualization exercises. There is nothing like doing the visualization exercises while having the sound of waves on the background. I am pumped about going back to trading tomorrow. I know it is going to be a chop. I wrote a few blogs on the plane that I will be sharing with you guys throughout the week. Stay tuned. Happy trading