Commit To Living

In his seminal work titled On The Shortness of Life, Stoic philosopher Seneca offers a reframing of time and existence by way of the sobering, metaphor-driven rhetoric so characteristic of him:

"And so there is no reason for you to think that any man has lived long because he has grey hairs or wrinkles; he has not lived long—he has existed long. For what if you should think that that man had had a long voyage who had been caught by a fierce storm as soon as he left harbor, and, swept hither and thither by a succession of winds that raged from different quarters, had been driven in a circle around the same course? Not much voyaging did he have, but much tossing about." -Seneca

Life without conscious design is indeed nothing more than tossing about. A new year sees many individuals lean into the "reset" by initiating new behaviors or denouncing previous ones. The eventual challenge with any single, isolated resolution, however, is a lack of context. Months pass, vigor fades, and rhythms resume, revealing the element key to sustaining any intended behavior: committing, first, to how we want to live. [the why goes away, the what changes; whys are useful in the micro, risky in the macro]

There are many ways to be a certain type of person; there are few ways to be that person in the way you want to—in the way most conducive to your unique and specific type of flourishing.

Sometimes outcomes elude us because we aren't pursuing them in a manner we can sustain.To live is to commit to how we can best live—that is, to how we can keep wanting to.

What is the context so compelling that any content can be overcome? What adjustments can be made such that you aren't being dragged, but driving? With a disciplined focus on our sphere of control and a disciplined acceptance of original hands dealt, what does the life we want to sustain look like?

Operate accordingly.

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