Emily Lee · Building in Public

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Emily Lee · Building in Public 💭just documenting what I'm learning along the way.
🎙️Stories & reflections on being human.

10/09/2026

After last week, I couldn’t trust myself. Not my analysis, and not my emotional regulation. So I went back to a simulated account. If all I had was luck, I didn’t want to find that out with real money.

Seven trades in 37 minutes. Five of them won. But when I went back and reviewed them, I’d call four of those wins luck. And on three of them, I didn’t even wait for confirmation.

It was also the week after two weeks away, with a lot to catch up on, and a heavy week I can’t talk about. So I traded one day. The rest of it was routine and chores.

That’s where I found some peace again. Enough to go back and keep finding out: luck, or an edge?

How do you tell a good decision apart from a lucky one?

Documenting my own trades on a simulated account. Not financial advice.

#

10/06/2026

I used to judge people who bought courses.

I’m frugal. Paying for information I could find for free felt like handing over my hard-earned money for nothing.

So when I started learning to trade in February, I went the free route. Hours of videos. I’d finish one feeling like I almost got it, then click the next.

That made me realize the information was never the problem. The information was free. The explanation wasn’t.

Free still costs you something: the hours spent searching and the energy you burn on content that doesn’t click. The right explanation probably saved me 50-plus hours of feeling stuck.

So yes, you can find it all for free. But should you?

Where do you land: pay for the explanation, or keep searching?

The thing nobody tells you about your inner critic: sometimes it has a point.When I finally talked back, it asked me som...
10/04/2026

The thing nobody tells you about your inner critic: sometimes it has a point.
When I finally talked back, it asked me something I couldn’t answer right away. “What if I’m right?”
That made me realize the voice isn’t the problem. The way it talks is. “You’re repeating yourself” is feedback I can use. “Nobody cares about this” is just mean, and it doesn’t help me get better. It just makes me stop.
🔖Save this for the next time the voice shows up mid-sentence.
👉What’s one thing your inner critic says that’s actually useful?

10/02/2026

Week 6 of Dating Options.

Two trades this week. Both losers.

The day before, I hit my limit. The week before that, I was hosting family, and my own list just kept getting pushed back. Content. Trade reviews. All of it waiting, sitting in the back of my head, even on vacation. Until it all came out.

So the next morning, I opened my charts. Honestly, I think I wanted to prove I could still do it all. I didn’t wait for confirmation on either trade. Held one hoping it would turn. Chased a green candle on the other.

So I took a break. The rest of the week in Palm Springs was a hike, the pool, and a waterslide I hadn’t been on since I was a kid. And that made me realize, the part of me I keep putting last doesn’t go quiet. She just waits.

My trading can only be as regulated as I am.

What do you reach for on the days you’re trying to prove something?

Documenting my own trades. Not financial advice.

09/29/2026

For five episodes, I just watched my inner critic. This time I talked back. And it asked me something I couldn’t answer right away: “what if I’m right?”

That made me realize the voice isn’t the problem. The way it talks is. “You’re repeating yourself” is feedback. “Nobody cares about this” is just mean. One helps me finish. The other makes me stop.

So I’m not firing my critic. I’m giving it better notes, and asking it to wait until I’m done.

What’s one thing your inner critic says that’s actually useful, and one thing it needs to stop saying?

Can I Just Finish? Ep. 6

someone left a comment on my 能者多勞 video and I haven’t stopped thinking about it.they said my mom’s rule was basically eq...
09/27/2026

someone left a comment on my 能者多勞 video and I haven’t stopped thinking about it.

they said my mom’s rule was basically equity. you do more because you can carry more. and honestly? I agree. that part was never the problem.

the problem was everywhere else ran on equality. same grade for the group project, whether you stayed up until 12 AM fixing everyone’s slides or went MIA halfway through. so I kept doing more, and it just became my normal. 100% never felt like enough, so I went for 120%. every time.

then my cat looked at me last week like, who is this for? and I didn’t have an answer.

so I’m trying something new. if I choose to do more, cool. if I’m doing more because I feel like I owe it, I’m letting myself stop at 100%. still practicing 🫠

#能者多勞

09/25/2026

This is my first travel vlog 🫠 all to show that I made $2,659.97 in one day this week, fake money.

The actual live account? Two trades, $31.50. And honestly that’s not even a fair comparison — ten contracts on the sim side, one contract on live. Plus one single sim trade basically carried the whole thing.

I was in San Diego hosting family this week, so I kept it light. Mostly just watched videos, practiced on paper, and tried to actually think through what happened after last week’s blow-up.

I’m keeping myself at one contract until I can prove I can actually win more than 70% of the time across at least 30 real trades. No shortcuts this time.

Week 5 of Dating Options ✅

**Documenting my own trades. Not financial advice.

Options trading | trading journey | female traders | beginner traders | San Diego vlog | Balboa Park | USS midway Museum | Oceanside Pier | Family Vacation

09/22/2026

If you’re a recovering people-pleaser, saying no feels dangerous. 🫣 Even thinking about it makes you anxious.

A friend asks you to help them move this weekend. You’re tired. You already have plans. But the “no” won’t come out — because you’re scared they’ll think you’re a bad friend, and things will end from there.

Saying no feels like losing control. Like we’re giving up the one thing we can actually manage: how needed we are.

But if a friendship only exists because of what you do for someone... is it really worth keeping?

Save this for the next time saying no feels impossible.

What’s the hardest “no” you’ve had to practice? Tell me below.

Yesterday my cat pointed at the invisible podium I keep standing on. Turns out my 100% is often better than someone else...
09/19/2026

Yesterday my cat pointed at the invisible podium I keep standing on. Turns out my 100% is often better than someone else’s 120%. Where would you let 100% be enough? Tell me 💬

09/17/2026

I made one rule after blowing up almost everything I’d rebuilt from the original $980: paper trade only. It didn’t survive till lunch.

Wednesday morning I did exactly what I promised myself. And the strangest part is I was right — I called the direction correctly almost every time. I just kept getting out too early. Anxious. Taking the small win instead of trusting what I’d already called right.

Then the paper session went well enough that a couple hours later, I opened a real position anyway. Ten twenty-eight in the morning. Thirty-four minutes later, closed for a $9 loss.

I’ve done this exact thing with a person too. Told myself no more chances after enough toxic behavior — gave way too many already — then let him back in anyway. Same ending. I already knew how it would go before it went there.

$9 was never the story. Neither was he. It’s how fast “I’m done” turns into “just this once.”

Week 4 done.

Not financial advice, just the truth of trying.

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