In the past six months I wasted a lot of money 1) with compulsive gambling and 2) by not trading my systems (I'd be at 30k now), and I deeply regret this. But at the same time, given that I did not fund my trading account since January, and that I used it to pay for the server, my other account has grown, and, despite wasting all this time, money and opportunities, the damage merely consists of having wasted 3 months (considering I benefited from the other 3 months in terms of capital and experience). The only damage is thinking "what could have been". I wasted six months, but now I have a lot more experience and more capital (4k more) than six months ago... and so, except for that feeling of regret, of having wasted six months, I should actually be more confident now than I was when I started in early january.
Now the big question mark is if I will be able to stay away from compulsive gambling, as I could not do for these last six months. The big question is if I'll do sit ups and push ups when i'll feel restless. All I need to do to succeed is this: trade the signals coming from my systems. If I trade discretionary, I do not use a stoploss, and if I do not do that, and I never do it, accidents happen, such as losing a lot more than necessary and expected.
I must not confuse the desire to kill with the desire to trade, or eat. The desire to kill (colleagues, neighbours, etcetera) is vented out with exercise. The desire to trade should not be there, and if it's there, it is mistaken, because it also stems from the desire to kill (and the frustration for being unable to do it). Just the same with eating: if you're full, there's no need to eat, and if you're eating it is certainly because you're restless. It will go away if you do some pushups. One must not confuse restlessness with hunger, nor mistake restlessness for trading opportunities.
Thanks to this psychological investigation and findings, I've successfully overcome any overeating habits I had, and I have completely stopped scratching my head and my nose, regardless of having had a stressful day. One must understand his needs and the way to answer those needs properly, without hurting himself.
Now that I have a tradable account again, let's see if I can apply what I've learned to curb or rather eliminate the damage of all compulsive behaviours, including compulsive gambling. Next week will tell.
I did have to make one discretionary trade without a stoploss, because the trade by the systems might have come too late and I might have incurred the monthly fee (which you get charged for not trading) and gone below 2000 again. So I had to close my euro position (cfr.previous posts) and go short on the ZN right away (also because it was a good opportunity). So ok, now I have a ZN short position, and once it will be closed (pretty quickly, because I have a pretty reachable Limit order, there will be no more discretionary trades. At least if my self psychotherapy works.