Hermann Hesse is may be a strange source of wisdom for overcoming trading fears, but consider the following ideas.

These quotes are taken from Hess’s work Demian where the title character Max Demian is speaking to Sinclair (main character) regarding fear and “the larger picture of the human condition.”

“… You are only afraid if you are not in harmony with yourself. People are afraid because they have never owned up to themselves. [It's] a whole society composed of men afraid of the unknown within them! … nothing good can come of this.”

A few passages later, Frau Eva Demian speaks of dreams overcoming fears:

“You must find your dream, and then the way becomes easy. But there is no dream that lasts forever; each dream is followed by another, and one should not cling to any particular one.”

Reading the book is not necessary to understand the meaning contained in these ideas, but it helps.

Demian suggests that we feel fear because we do not examine the ‘inner world’ of our own thoughts and desires, and thus fear the unknown. This fear causes us to err and not live up to the potential we have within us – many of us never realize this potential.

Dreams are so important in overcoming fear. By ‘dream,’ we do not mean the visions that occur at night, but rather large goals and the desires of our heart. Our desires in trading might be freedom from the corporate world, freedom to reap large profits, freedom from a daily commute, or it could be immense financial wealth and stability, or any number of expansive goals.

The suggestion is that these dreams must be as real and attainable as possible and we must pursue it with all the strength we have to achieve it. Demian speaks earlier in a passage regarding the strength of the human will to overcome obstacles – fear is a major obstacle in achieving our dreams. It keeps us locked in our current (retrograde) way of thinking and behavior and greatly limits our possibilities and achievements.

If you suffer from fear in trading, there are a variety of sources to seek help, but always keep your dreams and the reasons you love (or used to love) trading foremost in your mind and pursue them with renewed vigor with all your might.