Despite the strong market gains this year, it is unlikely that investors feel comfortable in the current environment. There is always something new to worry about, a concept often referred to as the “wall of worry.” The wall never shrinks – new building blocks are continually added as investor focus and media coverage shift to the next set of worries.

A focus on day-to-day headlines naturally leads investors to have a glass-half-empty view. Current events tend to dwell on unexpected negative events, rather than on the steadier, less noticeable progress that drives stock market returns over years and decades. Today, this short-termism reminds investors that major indices are still in the red when compared to last year’s all-time highs, and that many thorny market and economic issues are still unresolved.

This is why it is often important to view the market with a broader perspective. The glass-half-full view, which is much more appropriate for long-term investors, is that many of these issues are slowly improving. As a result, the market has risen 21% from last year’s market bottom, and 73% since the beginning of 2019, despite all the intervening events. These are figures that everyday investors would likely be unaware of if they only followed the day-to-day headlines.

Of course, this is not to say that markets only go up or that there is never anything to worry about. Instead, these facts are a reminder for investors to stay disciplined, in both good and bad markets, and to stick with their financial plans. Just as pilots often remind passengers to keep their seatbelts fastened even when the air is calm, periods of positive market performance are the best times for investors to stay balanced and prepare for future uncertainty.

The latest data confirm that the economy is doing better than many feared just a few months ago. The recent jobs report showed that 339,000 new positions were created last month, many more than forecasted. Unemployment did tick up to 3.7%, but it has been fluctuating around these levels since last August. What’s more, recent data show an increase in the number of job openings back above ten million across the country.