JUST DON'T MAKE THINGS WORSE

“How much more harmful are the consequences of anger and grief than the circumstances that aroused them in us!” - Marcus Aurelius, MEDITATIONS, 11.18.8

When facing a tough situation in life that is not necessarily the outcome you would have liked, frustration, anger, and a lot of bad emotion will kick in. But sometimes it can be even bigger than a simple event or a simple situation. Waking up everyday for a job you hate, being on a toxic relationship that brings you a lot of stress and anxiety, that kind of things are way more harmful than they seem to be in the long run. Even if today’s world’s telling you to be in a relationship, with a great job that brings a lot of money, it may be things that don’t necessarily correspond to who you are deep inside. And it’s perfectly OKAY.

It’s okay if you are not corresponding to social media standards.

It’s okay if you are not corresponding to society’s standards.

It’s okay if you are not corresponding to any standards.

Here I would like to talk about the fact that if you find yourself in a hole, just stop digging. And of course, I’m not saying that if you aren’t corresponding to social media’s standard stop digging because you are lonely in a hole and you’re crap.

By “stop digging” I mean stop feeling bad about it. Stop feeling like you are an exception to this world because every person in this world is an exception, everyone is unique.

Standards in occidental society brought to us by important magazines, by classic clothing brands and everything else is an illusion. But it’s an illusion we are born in front of. Just like our parents, and grandparents, realize it.

Everything that makes you feel bad about yourself is an illusion that is anchored deeply in everyone’s brain. And realizing it can be something tremendously delightful. Living your life the way YOU want to and not as society’s standards are telling you to. If you remember your philosophy course bases, there’s a parallel that can be done here between those standards that are printed in our minds and the Allegory of the Cave by Plato. Plus, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard the song Smoke and Mirrors by Imagine Dragons but it’s worth interpreting it that way.

Of course, it is hard at first to get rid of everything. But to achieve any goal in life you don’t need to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. When deciding to move to another continent on my own at 18 I wasn’t seeing the whole staircase, and if I did, my life would be completely different now, but I’m so grateful it happened that way.

This brings me to the fact that if sometimes you look back and feel even a little bit of regret about something you did or something you didn’t do, something you thought at a given time in your life, stop feeling guilty about it. Stop digging that hole, and start your climb by accepting yourself as you are, and by thinking that without all those events that happened to you in your life you wouldn’t be the same person your relatives love so much.

Liberate yourself from the standards that make you feel bad about yourself.

Live your life for everything that matters to you.

It is yours.

Thanks a lot for reading until the end.

I really hope you enjoyed that second little text. Don’t hesitate to tell me what you thought, any remarks are welcomed. If you want to discuss it feel free to shoot me a DM on twitter @JBDX_ or on Messenger if you know my full name, or even a mail at [email protected] if you’re someone very professional.

The next one will be called “A trained mind is better than any script”. So for all of that, and more, see you tomorrow :)