Welcome to Stoic Snippets,
The track that is short in time but not in depth.
There is always tomorrow.
Well,
Until there isn't.
The crazy thing about time is that it is the only asset we never know how much we really have.
In fact,
By the time we do know how much we have,
99% of it is gone.
It is a peculiar situation for sure.
Somehow we have to live with certainty in an uncertain future.
So what do we do about that?
Well,
Seneca has this advice.
The whole future lies in uncertainty.
Therefore,
Live immediately.
Now that is solid advice.
But for multiple reasons,
We find it very hard to do this.
Instead,
We put things off till tomorrow.
And then tomorrow,
And then tomorrow,
And tomorrow.
Things that we know we should start today.
This is not new.
Marcus Aurelius felt it too,
2000 years ago.
And he saw it in himself,
Even though he was the emperor of Rome.
In fact,
He wrote about it in his book Meditations.
He says,
You could be good today,
But instead you choose tomorrow.
So why?
Why do we do that?
My best guess is that we erroneously assume inaction is safe.
That the devil we know is better than the devil that we don't.
Meaning that we prefer certain misery than uncertain happiness.
You see this in animal studies too,
By the way.
Rats and dogs prefer having frequent shocks when the interval is known than less frequent shocks when the shocks are random.
Maybe you can relate.
The idea of doing something new is far more scary than failing doing what you're used to doing.
It's a type of loss aversion,
Where losing feels worse than winning feels good.
We have to break free of this though.
And if we have any chance of living a better life,
Then we need to start today.
As Marcus Aurelius says,
Putting things off is the biggest waste of life.
It snatches away each day as it comes and denies us the present by promising us the future.
The greatest obstacle in living is expectancy,
Which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today.
You are arranging what lies in fortune's control and abandoning what lies in yours.
You have control over today,
Not tomorrow.
Yet we give up on today and get anxious about how we can change tomorrow.
Instead,
Take today and make it the best day you can.
Tomorrow will take care of itself.
Or as Seneca says,
Make the best use of what is in your power and take the rest as it happens.
Now,
In my opinion,
The best way to learn more about stoicism in a fun and interactive way is to come check out one of my retreats.
You can see them by going over to my profile here on InsideTimer.
Hope to see you there.
