Today’s stock market reminds me of 2011. Back then, the S&P 500 was still recovering much of what it lost in the 2008 crash.

By 2009 it had dropped roughly 50% at its worst. Then it slowly started climbing. All the while, many investors were still expecting the worst.

I graduated in 2010 and it truly was one of the worst job markets you can imagine. The global economy was contracting, companies were shedding workers, and no new hiring was happening. Things were so bad that I couldn’t get a job I wanted, so I started a business with my dad.

I was so negative on the economy that I also sold the stocks that I had bought in 2007, right before the collapse.

I was convinced the worst was yet to come. We entered 2011 with that same kind of dread. In April that year, the market slid about 19% through September.