Where to begin?

Well, my goodness.  When a mentor/friend of mine told me that she was a trader, and then later on told me not to do it, I thought that she was being overprotective.  I read and read and read and learned as much as I could for the past 3 months.  I poured over charts, candlesticks, and digested as much new lingo and technical tools as I could.  Then, I dove in - well, kind of.  I have been paper-trading for 3 weeks now for one simple reason - can you guess what that reason is?

No, not because I fail at paper trading
No, not because my mouse was low on batteries
No, not because my glasses were broken

For anyone who guessed that it is because I CAN'T CLICK ON THE MOUSE TO BUY you are correct.

I have sat there, frozen, as I watched a stock go up, and I am not in it.  I am completely frozen when I see my perfect entry.

Now, some of you may be wondering, how is this possible?  Isn't it that traders are supposed to freeze when the stock starts falling and they become paralyzed with fear and shaky hands?

Not I - I freeze when I see a successful stock about to take off.

What is the psychology of that?  Hmmmmm, let's see, I am a therapist, so perhaps I can't see myself being successful at another career, perhaps I feel I am not worth it, or perhaps, just perhaps it is easier than that-

perhaps it is just that I really don't trust that I could have learned enough in 3 months to make money?!

Or maybe I just need to set up a reward system in which I get to eat one ice cream sundae for every time I actually click on the mouse to buy a stock?


What beginner stories do you have?  Anything funny, enlightening, or a pearl of wisdom for the rest of us? Do share!