A Higher Pleasure
"Yes, getting your wish would have been so nice. But isn't that exactly why pleasure trips us up? Instead, see if these things might be even nicer—a great soul, freedom, honesty, kindness, saintliness. For there is nothing so pleasing as wisdom itself, when you consider how sure-footed and effortless the works of understanding and knowledge are."
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 5.9
Another tough meditation to compare to trading again today. Seems to be the norm at the moment!
I think looking at this from a trading perspective, the "higher pleasure" comes from the rewards of doing the right thing. This means the full package of course; from finding potential trades, by using the stats/data that you have available and sticking to the rules/criteria for your strategies 100% of the time. Then executing your trade and managing it fully to completion, by reacting to what you are seeing, swiftly and without hesitation, rather than what you hope/expect to happen.
Doing all of the above, means that you are sticking to your rules and dealing with anything that the market throws at you. If you do this repetitively on a regular basis, practising day in, day out, rinse and repeat, you will grow in confidence and become consistent in your decision making.
It takes time and you have to be prepared to put in the arduous hard work, but you will reap the rewards, as long as you stick to the plan and don't give up!
Seeing your results and becoming profitable long term, is for me "a higher pleasure" without a shadow of a doubt.
You've got this if you stick at it, I promise you; get out there and do it!