Stock Market Panic: Are you one of the herd?

With the recent roller coaster ride of the stock market and the economic woes, it’s easy for nervousness and fear to turn normal, everyday people into herd animals.

Herd animals generally respond to fear by acting as a group.  They don’t usually don’t stop and say, “Well, maybe I ought to consider my options before I run off the cliff with everyone else.” When they get spooked, they take off without consideration of where they’re going.

This is what I call herd panic.

With the ups and downs of the US stock market, we are seeing more cases of herd panic. While some people have no choice but to pull their money out of the schizophrenic market, many others are panicking and blindly following others.  This can be dangerous!

Unfortunately, herd panic behavior seems to be on the increase in this country.  We have become so frightened that we no longer stop and think about our actions or get the facts.  Instead, fear and rumors make many of us take off in terror, just like herd animals.

This isn’t actually our nature in the United States. Our ancestors were independent, strong-willed people who survived many difficult times.  As a matter of fact, for good or bad, the United States is thought of as one the most independent nations in the world.

So, what IS happening to make us react like herd animals?

While the stock market and the economy may be major factors, I’m also seeing a growing atmosphere of CONSTANT fear.  We see threats all around us.  This leads to increased anxiety, making us more vulnerable to panic.  And when we panic, the tendency is to run without thinking.

What can change this?

Get all the facts before you panic.

Like the child’s game of “passing the message,” facts change as they get passed from person to person.  So, it’s worth checking things out and finding out if you really DO need to take action.

Take action AFTER considering all your options.

This is the definition of NOT panicking.  There are always alternatives; some may be better than others, but we DO have choices other than panic. Talk to people you trust and get different perspectives before you decide what you need to do.

Avoid watching or listening to the news 24/7.

Unfortunately, the “news” in this country has become the biggest reality program we have.  And it tends to feed on bad news.  This, in turn, leads us to become even more fearful.  Eventually, fear becomes a second nature to us and then almost anything can make us jump and run.

Seek out things that make you happy, joyful and give you peace.

Instead of focusing on what’s going wrong, stop and consider what’s going right.  Take a look at your life, your family, and think about what’s really important to you.  Get in touch with the things that give you peace, joy and comfort.  While this may very 70ish, it certainly can’t hurt as an antidote to all the negative things happening around us.

In the United States, we’ve dealt with big problems before and been able to overcome them.  Herd panic didn’t help us, however.  Instead, we did it through working together as a team, each of us giving our individual talents to the group.  This is when we usually find the best solutions!

Now, it’s your turn.

What do you think we need to do to be less fearful in the US?

Tagged as: constant fear, economic woes, economy, panic behavior, schizophrenic market, stock market, us stock market