The Vulnerability Of Dependence

The Daily Stoic for September 25th, “The Vulnerability Of Dependence”.

“Show me someone who isn’t a slave! One is a slave to lust, another to greed, another to power, and all are slaves to fear. I could name a former Consul who is a slave to a little old woman, a millionaire who is the slave of the cleaning woman. . . . No servitude is more abject than the self-imposed.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 47.17

The topic of dependence has been discussed before at the daily stoic. On Seeing Our Addictions, I mentioned how coffee is probably my biggest addition.

The Vulnerability Of Dependence

I would go as far as to state that it’s indeed something I should take care of. The other day, for my analysis, I had to go to the doctor early in the morning with an empty stomach. I was there the whole morning, and then I needed to get back home. I didn’t have coffee at all. Suddenly, in the afternoon, I realized I had a terrible headache. At first, I thought it was because of the analysis, but then I realized it was because my organism needed caffeine.

In fact, I had a coffee and sometime later started to feel better.

And that’s not the first time this has happened to me. If, for any reason, I can’t have any coffee at all during the morning, I will get a terrible headache in the afternoon. Sure thing.

And I have decided to stop that. I plan on quitting coffee. I really love enjoying a coffee with friends, and my caffeine shot is the best moment every morning just after having breakfast. I love coffee. But if it has this power over me, it’s something I need to get rid of.

… Now I only had to figure out how. Perhaps I will try on a weekend, when I can afford to have a headache.

Conclusion

Today’s Daily Stoic, “The Vulnerability Of Dependence”, discusses again the power of addictions in our lives. It can be something as simple as a coffee addiction -like in my case- or even more complex kind of addictions.