3 Lessons From Ancient Rome To Stop Life Flashing By So Quickly In Middle Age
Youth is wasted on the young, so they say. The older I get the more I realize it's not any indictment on the carefree vigor enjoying by those bathing in the almost-immortal feelings in youth when the vast majority of their life stretches in front of them. Rather, it is an appreciation for the opportunity to collect and use wisdom.
I recently had a birthday. Every year, birthdays come around more quickly. Especially since I became a parent, I realize that life isn't limitless. No, I probably won't check every item off my bucket list.
I wanted a way to understand that process with a more positive framing so I spent hours reading the wisdom of Seneca, a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome. Here's what I learned:
Life Feels Shorter If You Waste It On Trivialities
If you spend your life pursuing status or power, you'll always have your eye on some future goal. You won't be able to enjoy your current situation.
Emperor Augustus spent so much of his life preparing to enjoy a future state of retirement. However, he was never able to successfully extract himself from preparation in time to enjoy it.
If you spend your life pursuing luxury, you will too often be thinking of when your current thrill will end while you’re still in it. You'll already be mentally pursuing the next one.
Busyness Doesn't Equal Fulfillment
Here are three easy ways to achieve the 'life going fast' state of busy yet unfulfilled:
Drifting through life apathetically, allowing your path to be set by circumstances (or pulled around by the paths of others).
Pointlessly working for someone whose aims and convictions don't match your own.
You can't even chart your own path, yet you expend your energy complaining about others not supporting you in walking it.
True Satisfaction Comes From Within
A wise person is self-reliant. Loss of constructed status is no setback to you when your sense of self is not founded on external circumstances.
Greed (for power, luxury, status) is a sickness. It's like craving water because you're feverish rather than thirsty - you will never be satisfied.
You can always survey the world and contemplate the most profound aspects of existence, no matter where you are or what you are doing.
So, chart your own path. Have faith in yourself, set aside time for yourself to appreciate the wonder of existence. Enjoy life's pleasures in moderation as circumstances allow. But don't overdo it or define your happiness around them.