In middle school, I was introduced to a wonderful piece of literature called, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” by Coleridge.

Surrounding the drama regarding an albatross and its untimely assassination, was a wonderful expose on the nature of humans when presented with a persistent, unyielding state of affairs known as the doldrums.

For the education of non-mariners: the doldrums consist of certain latitudes, during certain times of the year, where the wind does not blow. The ocean is flat as glass, and as calm as a hindu cow.

In 2007, I found myself in the doldrums, 500 miles west of Ecuador on a 43-foot sailboat. It was hot, and terminally insufferable.

I would like to make a prediction that we are about to enter another period of intolerable calm in the world of Bitcoin (it won’t be the first); that the wind responsible for blowing the virtual currency ship to new heights this year has eased, and that our ship has slowed, edging forth hopefully, but helplessly.

In the coming months, we will see an exodus of speculators (I use that word precisely, as “investors,” meaning those who allocate capital to a business venture, would be inappropriate).

Like the doldrums, the becalming of Bitcoin will be due to external factors, a natural progression, if you will. Like the ebb and flow of the tide, a recession must follow a progression. To swim against the tide is always counterproductive. We must find a rock an latch on to it.

However, fear not. For even when motionless, my crew and I knew that the doldrums were nothing more than the absence of wind – and furthermore, that the wind would eventually return.

So my message to you, sailors of the Bitcoin seas, is to accept the oncoming stillness, the one that will follow the illustrious rally of early 2013.

Stay calm, play some cards, and buy a shit-ton of Bitcoins when they bottom out.

Then trim your sails. Because it’s going to be a breathtaking ride.