Welcome to Stoic Snippets,
The track that is short in length but not in depth.
Never be overheard complaining,
Not even to yourself.
Marcus Aurelius.
Regular listeners of mine will know that my life has gone up a gear or two over the last few years.
I've gone from living alone when I started in Saitama,
To getting a girlfriend,
Two cats,
And now two babies.
In that time,
I've had six knee operations,
The film industry I work in has been on strike twice,
And been shot down by COVID,
And now it's been threatened by AI.
Oh,
And more recently,
Everyone in my house has been ill.
Oh,
And my favourite team,
England Rugby,
Are getting beaten by everyone,
Including Italy.
Now,
It's safe to say I've been under it.
Now,
Even telling you all this has two distinct effects on my psyche.
On one hand,
It feels cathartic to say it out loud and share the burden of my life with you.
But on the other hand,
It kind of brings me down.
Because I can feel it forming a narrative,
A story I tell myself about myself.
It becomes who I am,
Not what I'm going through.
I don't just feel under it,
I become it.
And with each retelling,
I get more attached to that new identity.
And before I know it,
It's all I talk about.
It's all I think about.
It's all I'm about.
This is precisely why Mark Serilius was warning us.
Never be overheard complaining,
Not even to yourself.
He recognised the problem with this.
They say misery loves company,
But here's the truth.
Company hates misery.
I've learned this from years of working in pretty awful conditions.
Now,
Just picture this,
This was a couple of weeks ago.
You're dressed in full chainmail as a knight.
Heavy armour digging into your neck and your sides.
Uncomfortable shoes,
You're unable to sit down properly without the costume hurting you in some way.
You're wearing the itchy wig that has been just rarely getting to you all night.
It's 2am because you're working nights,
And it's raining and cold because we're in England.
Oh,
And we're covered in mud.
Now,
In that circumstance,
The last thing you want is the guy next to you going,
This really sucks,
Doesn't it?
We all know it's rubbish.
We don't need reminding.
What we want is someone who lifts the mood.
Someone who makes you laugh.
Someone who helps you forget where you are for a moment.
In stormy weather,
You don't want another dark cloud.
You want a little ray of sunshine.
I know this because I've been both,
And I've decided to be the latter.
I make no mistake.
That's a decision.
You can't always stop negative thoughts from appearing,
But you can stop yourself from spreading them out,
Like a virus.
So go out there and decide to be that little bit of sunshine.
And if you can't manage that,
At the very least,
Try not to on someone else's parade.
And before you go,
Be a little ray of sunshine in my life,
And give this a good rating,
Share it with your friends,
Or go check out one of my courses on stoicism.
I'd love to see you in there too.
All right,
Until next time,
Good luck out there.
