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Don’t Be Miserable In Advance
Focusing on the Daily Stoic Meditation for August 21 — Don’t Be Miserable In Advance, as outlined by Ryan Holiday in the bestseller 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance and the Art Of Living.
“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
On worrying about the future
In today’s society, worry and anxiety for the future is massively common. Almost everyone fears the bad things that could happen, and they live their life in anticipation of things going wrong.
In some aspects, this worry can be beneficial — if you channel that worry into preparation, and you take time to ensure that you’re well prepared to deal with situations that may go wrong.
For the most part, however, constantly worrying about the future and being miserable in advance does no good for you whatsoever.
Worrying about the future and being engulfed by the anxiety that things may go wrong simply…
