Pretty much title, feeling very demoralized. Invested around 68k near the peak which is already down around 6%, but the path to a lot more than that seems likely.
Originally I was scared of an AI boom or something, but after holding the cash for months and just seeing it go up I was like fuck it I'll just invest in the S&P 500.
I understand these things happen and some people are bound to be unlucky, I've also seen the video about the worst market timer in history, however just going through it is a lot more of a sinking feeling, I'm loosing as much money as I'm collecting in a paycheck each week it seems like, it just feels awful.
How do you cope with this, how do you tell your parents you lost a good chunk on life savings on what looks like gambling to them.