Welcome to Stoic Snippets,
The philosophy track that is short in length,
But not in depth.
Slavery lurks behind marble and gold.
Seneca.
I'm sure you have heard the age-old adage,
A slave to the dollar.
It's been around for a long time because we've been struggling with this issue for a long time.
As long as we've been able to store value in external things,
We've run the risk of being controlled by those things,
In more ways than you think.
Often we think of only the cost associated with the products we buy,
Which,
Don't get me wrong,
Is a totally valid cost to consider.
You have to trade a lot of your hard-earned time for that money.
Time is a commodity which you can never get back,
And so we should be careful how we spend the money that we trade our time for.
But there are also hidden costs to our possessions.
For one,
There is the upkeep of them.
Generally,
The more expensive an item,
The more expensive the upkeep.
If you've ever owned a fancy car or something like that,
You know all about this.
Insurance is more expensive.
Wheels are special,
So they cost more.
The spare parts need to get ordered in,
So they cost more.
The engine is very special,
So services,
Well,
You guessed it,
Cost more.
And then there's the replacement.
Again,
Expensive things are expensive to replace.
Epictetus tells a great story about being robbed of his fancy candlestick,
And then immediately scorning himself for having a silver candlestick,
When a wooden one would have been just as useful.
And this introduces one of the hidden,
Hidden costs.
The emotional reaction to the damage or loss of an item.
You see,
When we have something that is valuable or expensive,
Then we have anxiety about losing it or damaging it.
We bring this anxiety into our lives,
And not only do we invite it in willingly,
We pay handsomely for it.
I actually recently embraced my inner Epictetus,
And I got rid of a whole lot of expensive things,
Especially clothes.
I used to get so annoyed when something got stained or when it shrank,
But now,
I don't worry.
That's because I got rid of all the expensive stuff,
And bought a whole variety of cheap t-shirts that fit great,
But aren't expensive.
I got them in all sorts of colors,
And one actually got ruined this week.
And guess what?
It did not faze me at all,
Because it cost me $12.
And when this happened,
I reflected on how my things would often mess with my interactions with my friends and family.
Often,
When I would see friends or family,
I'd be wearing my nice stuff,
And I'd be worried it would get dirty or it would get torn,
So I wouldn't really get involved in too many of the more boisterous activities.
Then I thought about how I wouldn't allow my nephew to eat in my car,
Or how annoyed I would be when my cats mess up a bit of the furniture.
These possessions I paid for ended up changing my behavior,
And not for the better.
They got in the way of some of my relationships.
I realized that our possessions should be tools for us to use,
Things that make our life better,
Not constrict our actions or relationships.
So we have to be careful.
We have to be careful that the things we own don't end up owning us.
For inspiration on freeing yourself of too many items,
We need to look no further than Zinu,
The man who started Stoicism.
When he was asked to reflect on what it was like losing everything in a shipwreck,
He replied the following.
Fortune bids me to be a less encumbered philosopher.
I'll let that settle for a moment.
Now,
This doesn't mean you don't have to have anything,
But just be careful about what it is you own.
And if you're looking for a good place to spend your time and acquire something of value that does not perish,
Then look no further than self-improvement.
As the great investor Warren Buffett reminds us,
No one can tax this or take it away.
The Stoics saw self-improvement being epitomized by four things.
Courage,
Wisdom,
Temperance,
And justice.
If we are to chase anything in this world and spend our time and energy on,
It should be acquiring and practicing these things.
Good luck out there.
Thanks so much for joining me.
If you'd like to hear more of this type of thing,
Check out my courses in Stoicism.
I think you'll really enjoy them.
