Welcome to Stoic Snippets,
The philosophy track that is short in length but not in depth.
What progress have I made?
I am beginning to be my own friend.
This is the lesser-known Stoic called Hecate.
He's got a timeless bit of advice here.
It's strange to think of having a relationship with oneself because to some degree it supposes that there are multiple yous,
An age-old sign of what was incorrectly labeled for years schizophrenia.
Just an educational point here.
Schizophrenia is a disorder where people have a hard time knowing the difference between reality and hallucinations.
Multiple personality disorder is what most people think of when they think of schizophrenia.
It's a little bugbear of mine that people get these two things mixed up.
So now you know,
Rant over.
Don't confuse those two.
Right,
Back to what we were talking about.
In a strange way though,
You do exist as multiple people.
At least as multiple time zones people.
There's a past you,
The present you,
And there's a future you.
The choices you make have an impact on all three of those people.
Now the best example of this comes from a scene of The Simpsons.
That's right,
We're doing Stoics and Simpsons in one episode.
In this episode,
Homer Simpson is being chastised for not spending time with his kids.
Marge says,
One day the kids will be out of this house and you'll regret having not spent time with them.
He replies in classic Homer Simpson fashion.
That's a problem for future Homer.
Man,
I do not envy that guy.
And with that he pours a bottle of vodka into a mayonnaise jar,
Mixes it up,
Then drinks it and falls over.
Of course,
This is an extreme version of treating yourself badly.
But how often do we do something similar?
How often do we do something that will hurt us in the future but is enjoyable right now?
How often do we hold a grudge against our past self for doing such a thing?
And how often do we not give the present us enough credit for where they are or what they're experiencing?
In short,
How often do we treat past,
Present,
And future us like someone who deserves to be taken care of?
Seneca reminds us though that someone who is capable of making a friend out of themselves and looking after themselves in all these conditions will never be alone and you may be sure he is a friend of all.
And this last part is interesting.
Be sure to be a friend of all.
He is touching on the simple fact that how we treat ourselves is so often an indication of how we will treat others.
How being kind and forgiving and considerate to ourselves will only serve to help us in our relationships with others.
So I will urge you now to make peace with the past you,
Be grateful for the present you,
And do your best to look after future you.
If you enjoyed this,
Please check out my courses on Stoicism.
I think you're going to really enjoy them,
Particularly 7 Days of Stoic Strength.
It's full of stuff just like this.
See you there.
