One day, I started this collection with the intent of it consisting of posts about rational thoughts, logical ideas, and (mostly) ancient philosophy that can be applied to modern life. People who aren’t into such things may disagree with some of this content. I’ve experienced quite a few comments that seem to indicate this, or at least reflect a lack of understanding of the context of a post. But I also know that I’m not the best at explaining things simply, and/or an article may not have been fully consumed before a response is made by a commenter. It is easy to misunderstand philosophical concepts. Stoicism, for example, is often mistaken as being cold, distant, or unfeeling. I’m not asking every viewer to agree with the content. But rather than either: assume malice when none is intended, or jump to some conclusion and make a hastily-crafted reply as such, feel free to either ask questions for clarification, offer an opinion in a less rude way to facilitate polite discussion, or simply unfollow the collection and you won’t see these posts in your stream.
The past couple decades have seen a rise of victimhood mentality people seem to (perhaps unconsciously?) thrive on. It seems there are more and more people these days who are angry when they wake up, angry when they go to bed, and spend their days desperately worried or anxious, and have sheer outrage about so many things beyond their own control. And while a) things in the world will ALWAYS happen, no matter the decade, and b) it’s none of my business—the reason things like this go noticed is because often, people take their misery out on the rest of the world without thinking.
Nobody’s perfect, and hell, I used to be an absolute monster. But I have spent the last year or so doing some critical self-reflection, and trying to understand how to change the way I think about things as best I can, the good, the bad, even about the shittiest stuff there is.
I had to stop and think, “Maybe I could think a little differently about this,”
“This bad thing that happens, or person who keeps upsetting me… isn’t something I can fix, and isn’t affecting my day-to-day personal life, other than the way I am choosing to feel about it, so why do I let it bother me so much?”
“And if it IS something that can be fixed, can I fix it myself, rather than always trying to find blame in someone or something else? Or shall I let it be?”
I decided I need to take better care of myself and sort out my own individual issues if I want to be happy. Because since I AM the only person who I CAN control, my life may be more peaceful and fulfilling once I’ve fully realized this.
To sum up…
There is a lesson in everything, good, and bad. How I chose to respond, react, or view it in my own mind is up to me. Stuff that happens is not. I can think and reflect on it, learn the lesson, and move on.
TL;DR version:
This collection is coming from less of a place of expertise (I’m still just learning), and more of a dumping grounds if you will, for me to post the stuff from my brain as I learn it. Sort of like how when you are trying to master something, writing about it helps to understand.