💀 Dying Every Day
Dying Every Day (Stoicism in a Year) is a podcast by the Perennial Leader Project. Each episode turns a selected passage from Stoic philosophy into a guided meditation designed to help you (and me) learn how to live.
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Don’t Waste Time Worrying
Welcome to Dying Every Day (Stoicism in a Year). Today is Day 69, and we are turning to the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius to learn how to avoid worrying.
In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote to himself,
Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people—unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You’ll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing, and why, and what they’re saying, and what they’re thinking, and what they’re up to, and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind.
+Adapted from Meditations, 3.4
Instead of worrying, Marcus Aurelius reminded himself to focus on “what is his to do, and consider constantly what the world has in store for him—doing his best, and trusting that all is for the best.”
The lesson here is that we are wise to ask ourselves often, “What is ours to do?” We should also remind ourselves that worrying about what others think often keeps us from doing our best.
Seneca stressed to his friend Lucilius that many of our troubles can be explained by the fact that we live according to a pattern. Instead of arranging our lives according to reason, we are often led astray by convention (or what others think).
Stoicism, which can seem counterintuitive at times, advises us to focus on what is up to us. It calls us to cease worrying about the opinions of others.
The nineteenth-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer put it this way,
Most men set the utmost value precisely on what other people think, and are more concerned about it than about what goes on in their own consciousness, which is the thing most immediately and directly present to them. They reverse the natural order–regarding the opinions of others as real existence and their own consciousness as something shadowy… and consider the picture they present to the world of more importance than their own selves.
Reflection Prompt
Consider reflecting (or journaling) on the role that the opinions of others play in your life. You could ask yourself, “How can I begin to prioritize my philosophy of life over the thoughts and opinions of others?”
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Thank you for reading/listening; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W.
P.S. I greatly appreciate your time, attention, and support!