Thinking about this chart today. Last two cycles have been accompanied by a sharp rise in copper/gold. This one has not.

I think this chart largely explains why this cycle has felt worse to most and has lacked euphoria other than fleeting moments. Copper goes up when the economy/consumption/liquidity is in overdrive, gold goes up when there's some concerning monetary policy.

What we've seen this cycle is both up, with gold up even more. So we've had asset appreciation but it's been burdened by hesitation and fear the entire way.

Two ways to read this:
1) "Real" bull market hasn't even started yet and we have a year or two of growth still ahead of us.
2) We simply never get that period of growth unbridled by fear that we got the last two cycles and we just continue to begrudgingly grind out however long is left in this cycle.