WARNING: race with faster riders can cause liver damage.

Seven stages of power meter ownership:

shock & denial - First power test (of the year or ownership). Seeing your power output and compare it to your friends / competitors. "screw that!, I'm faster than that!!"

pain & guilt - Inevitably fry yourself striving for an astronomical gain in power. No matter how much you gain you still don't win as easily as you think you should

anger & bargaining - You dig and you dig looking for some kernel of information about how to get fast (legally).

depression, reflection, loneliness - Accepting your power numbers.

the upward turn - See the forest for the trees and learn to balance power numbers with reality: It's a training tool for you alone.

reconstruction and working through - Learning how to race and ride without being a slave to power.

acceptance and hope - Loving your bike and look forward to riding it with the hope that you can do it for a long time like those around you.

These stages can occur in any order and at any point in ownership of a power meter. Normally the common times to experience these are first time ownership and then another bout as you get older.