Don't Be Miserable In Advance

The Daily Stoic for August 21st, “Don’t Be Miserable In Advance”.

“It’s ruinous for the soul to be anxious about the future and miserable in advance of misery, engulfed by anxiety that the things it desires might remain its own until the very end. For such a soul will never be at rest—by longing for things to come it will lose the ability to enjoy present things.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 98.5b–6a

Today is the third day in a row that I can comfortably say that I have not suffered from stress. Yes, it’s been a stressful period for me.

The last daily stoics are focusing a lot on this concept: stop getting worried about things that might go wrong before they do. How is that working for me?

Don’t Be Miserable In Advance

I would say it’s working, but I have still a long path ahead to become a complete stoic, devoid of woes and distress. This quote from the stoic meditation made me stop and think.

“The pragmatist, the person of action, is too busy to waste time on such silliness. The pragmatist can’t worry about every possible outcome in advance.”

I have always considered myself a pragmatist, but it turns out I am probably not one of them.

However, I’m getting better at it. When I started this daily stoic, I was a bit skeptic about where it would take me, or if it would be useful at all. Now I think I can confidently say that it has helped me a lot these last days.

The lesson for me is: I should worry less. It’s ok to plan everything and try to do your best. Especially when your business is starting to grow, you are under a lot of stress and worried about many things. But I have learned to focus less on what could go wrong, and more on what I can do to improve it right now.

Conclusion

Today’s Daily Stoic, “Don’t Be Miserable In Advance”, stresses the need of stopping worrying about things that might go wrong. Live the present, plan for the future, but don’t let the worst case scenario take over your life.