Made For Working Together

The Daily Stoic for July 21st. “Made For Working Together”.

“Whenever you have trouble getting up in the morning, remind yourself that you’ve been made by nature for the purpose of working with others, whereas even unthinking animals share sleeping. And it’s our own natural purpose that is more fitting and more satisfying.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.12

Sometimes getting out of bed is hard. And I’m not a specially early-bird kind of person. I wake up at 7 am every morning to go to the gym. Then I get back, have a shower, prepare breakfast, and start working with a cup of coffee at hand.

I usually spend 10 minutes after switching off the alarm trying to readjust my mind to the fact that I’m awake and have to get out of bed.

Made For Working Together

So what motivation brings today’s stoic excerpt to help us get ready for our day?

“So if you need an extra boost to get out of bed this morning, if you need something more than caffeine can offer, use this. People are depending on you. Your purpose is to help us render this great work together. And we’re waiting and excited for you to show up.”

See my motivation coming…

I don’t know about you, but that does not get me jumping out of bed. Caffeine actually works much better. I know I have stuff to do, of course. Otherwise, I won’t even bother setting the alarm clock.

But that’s not new information for me. “Civilization and country are great projects we build together… blablabla”, but not at 7 am. At 7 am, I could not care less about the civilization, mankind, my country -or any other country for that matter-, or any other fair cause. I just want to turn around and sleep for two more hours.

I think Stoicism failed with me this time. Selfish as it may sound, I need a more personal motivation that will help me start my days when I am reluctant to do so.

Conclusion

Today’s Daily Stoic, “Made For Working Together”, according to stoics, we humans have a higher obligation to get out of bed and help our shared project… That, unfortunately, is not the motivation I need at 7 am…