I enjoy using zoom for classes. I have received mixed responses from my students. Some love it and some need still need the one on one learning experience.
Zoom will open with proper codes
I know there is more for me to learn to be the best online instructor. I’m just excited when my students are able to log on. It was challenging at first and these enhancements (hurdles) in learning occurred because of COVID. We are still learning how to conquer these obstacles.
Hurdles are always going to be in the way.
I know I’ve heard from other teachers that distance learning is too difficult. I tend to think that we could give distance learning a chance. We haven’t given it much of a chance. Look at the old model of education, it hasn’t been the greatest and how long have we been supporting that?
Is it safe to say that I may not be old school? 😊
Have a blessed day! Enjoy teaching whether it’s face to face or online.
I will be ok. We will be ok! Lord guide us all to a place of peace and understanding. This morning didn’t go quite as expected and that’s ok. Things that were out of my control played out as they will everyday and that’s ok!
God was already preparing me this morning for this change in seasons. Life is a blessing pure and simple. We should all be grateful for the simple blessings we receive each day. I know that he puts us in situations at times to make us stronger and to challenge the love we have for ourselves. I look up to the sky as I do most days and say “Thank You Lord!” Thanks for making me stronger. I do wish at times I could hear his reply, but I feel it. I feel that he is telling me to learn from the situation and be stronger. As I get older I realize this more and more!
God bless you and yours and remain faithful to yourself and to what you have been called to do.
Sometimes things are out of my control. I can learn to live with that. Sometimes things are within my control and those good decisions make me stronger. Stronger in character. Stronger emotionally. Stronger overall.
I start the day, just like everyday. I wake up, turn on the Keurig and head to the shower. I then go start my coffee, add some cream because I am not a psychopath. ( it’s fine if others don’t use cream.) 😀
Cup of Happy!
I carry the cup of motivation with me into the bathroom. I begin to put on my makeup the same way I always do. First moisturizer, primer, foundation, blush, eyeshadow, brows, mascara. That’s good enough. Now I must decide what to do with all this hair. I don’t want to always wear it up in a messy bun. What would be the point of having all of this hair if I’m just going to pin it all up all the time. I opt to curl it in big waves and pin the bangs back that I’m growing out, I must do this since I impulsively cut them a few months back. Then I dress, grab my coffee pour it in a to-go mug, refresh it, and head out the door. I drive almost a mile to my job. (Yes, I know… what a long commute.) Things look a little bit different now, because of COVID-19, but not really. It’s just that everyone now looks like a bandit about to rob a stage coach or train cart upon entering our school. (Minus the stick horse.)
I start my day now always feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all, I have learned to take a stoic approach and I remind myself what is happening around me is beyond my control, all that I can control is how I respond. So… I arrive to work and wipe down tables, prepare for class and spray disinfectant spray on the areas I know people will touch. I display the homemade cloth masks I have made for my students on my desk, they may take one if they need one. I tell them I have made these so that we all remain healthy and it’s the least I can do to help.
I had one student show up for class today to take a test. I had scheduled 2 to take a test. I have to keep class size at no more than 6 students at a time, it seems like a small class size, but it’s necessary since I teach adults. COVID-19 seems to be more brutal for adults.
It should be relatively easy to keep class size down since most people aren’t sure of what to do with their futures right now. Even as an educated and seasoned person the future doesn’t appear as bright as it once did. I continue to pray that this year will continue as close to normal as possible and that we will be ok. I hope that we can maintain some sort of defense against the unknowns. Even if that defense is simply maintaining control of our reactions. This year has made it more evident than any other year that life is short and surprises both good and bad are bound to happen. I pray for everyone’s protection and sanity during this time of uncertainty. Please pray that I am able to be light for my students who are in darker places. Please pray that I can help them see a future even though we don’t know what is happening right now. This has made it so difficult for me to teach the way I have in the past. Please pray that I can make the changes necessary to be a good guide in their learning experience. Thanks for those of you that read and pray! God Bless!
For starters, I’m a teacher in Oklahoma. The pay here isn’t the best, but I’m especially thankful for what I have been able to earn during these uncertain times. Knowing just that little bit of information about me should be enough to make everyone aware of the stress it brings when my already tight budget gets even more pressed when one of my parents requests help every month with paying their bills. Add to that the fact that I am already helping them pay a portion of their bills automatically each month. A big part of me feels obligated to help as I have been the “pleasing & obedient” child since my parents divorced when I was just 9 years old. I wasn’t aware until recently that this feeling I have of obligation to care for this parent may also be a side effect of spending the greater part of my childhood in a toxic and emotionally abusive environment.
I was ok with helping him out on occasion. He had always helped me out when I would find myself in a bind. I was also the one taking care of his paperwork/bills like a voluntary secretarial service. He tells me frequently that it’s better if I just do it now, because his memory is shot and he isn’t smart enough anyways to handle all of it. I do what he says. After all he is my dad. I do what I can to help when I see that he just doesn’t have the money to cover his expenses.
Two years ago, his reliance on me got even worse when he drove in to my driveway with a brand new car. Oddly enough, he didn’t need my advice to get that deal done. I know why he didn’t ask my advice, because I would have told him flat out that he couldn’t afford it.
He kept the car. I just continued to enable his reliance on me and let the stress build on me and my finances. I finally cried out yesterday after he asked me to pay his rent for the month. He said “ this is the last month. I’ll be done after this. When we get this paid …this place will be put in your name.” My response, “dad, I don’t mind helping when I can, it’s when I can’t! It kills me. It also kills me that I know once I figure out what to do to solve this problem you will bring me next month’s financial problems to solve.” I believe this can all be summed up by saying, I am having so many conflicting emotions about establishing healthy boundaries here.
I have been trying to pull myself out of this ditch of living paycheck to paycheck for several years. This is very hard to do when someone keeps randomly digging right beside me, spontaneously. I know I need to remove myself from this toxic place especially if I want to achieve my hopes and dreams. My hopes and dreams remain pretty simple. Give my kids what I never had. A stable environment, good financial guidance and unconditional love & support. I want to give my kids at least a mound to start from not a ditch.
Some links I have found are listed below sharing more information with grown children that may deal with financially irresponsible parents.
I have recently noticed a lot of similarities between Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and the current state of the world under this pandemic. I’ve been unintentionally training for this type of life for some time now. I’ve realized recently that I have been quarantined within myself because of this disorder most of my life without truly understanding what it was I was doing or why I was doing it. This disorder had caused me to practice social distancing from crowds most of the time brought on by anxiety. Another element of this disorder compels me to wear masks for protection from others when forced to enter said crowds. I have always washed my hands way more than necessary… Afraid that I might catch abandonment, especially if I managed to let someone too close. This caused me to wash my hands of many close friendships and relationships.
My self-made mask, to help “flatten the curve”
Now that I can see everyone allowing and encouraging this “social distancing” behavior and the similarities between this pandemic and my disorder I could now see how much my own past behavior, before the pandemic, was hurting and even impeding my own personal growth.
To keep others at a safe distance, to put on the appropriate mask, to wash off the stain of abandonment before it could tarnish me even more deeply. Will 6 feet be far enough? Will this mask work? Can washing my hands of this keep me safe? These things make you safe from the possibility of being seen, heard, or felt by others, but it makes for a very isolated existence. It seems crazy, huh? Well that’s why it’s a personality disorder, I suppose.
Speaking from a very personal and vulnerable place, Borderlines need to be needed, want to be wanted and ultimately hate feeling unimportant to those they think of as important people in their own life. Expressing appropriate emotions and verbalizing these mixed up feelings are even more difficult to manage for the BPD. People without Borderline may say “that’s not any different from the average person.” Sure, I can see that. The difference with the BPD is their ability to base life-changing decisions, impulsive actions are based on momentary feelings, these fleeting moments direct their entire lives. Fear directs their lives. They see the world in two distinct colors, black and white. They see everything in the most extreme contrast, it’s either all good, or all bad. I have had to work very hard to find the grey in my world. It hasn’t been easy. It’s a daily struggle.
Watching the world now try to handle this “disorder” has caused me to look even harder inside myself for the strength to endure this time of uncertainty. It was bad enough dealing with the disorder that was arising from the inside, but to also see it surround me on the outside has made me see things so much differently.
So take what I have learned to help get us back to some sort of normalcy.
*We aren’t stronger isolated, but this will weaken the spread of Covid-19. Stay inside for now and if you have to be out in the crowds wear a mask for everyone’s protection. You get use to it. 😷
*We will always need contact with other humans, it is what makes us feel alive. Contact your friends and family, let them know you are ok, or even not ok. Ask them how they are doing and that you hope they are doing well.
*Lastly, it’s ok for things to not be as they once were. Change isn’t always bad, it just takes some time to adjust. Take advantage of the positives this pandemic has brought to you and yours. I know for me it has certainly slowed things down and offered new perspectives about what this disorder was doing to the people and the relationships in my life.
To my readers, good luck to you and yours during this difficult time. My thoughts and prayers are with you. It is through times of struggle that learning occurs. Take advantage of this struggle to learn new life lessons. Take advantage of this time to improve parts of your life you weren’t happy with before. There is a positive to this, we just have to find it. I hope that everyone can find peace during this time of uncertainty.
I began reading “On The Shortness of Life” by: Seneca the past couple of days because of well the pandemic and the growing number of deaths around the world. It immediately began to strike many chords within me. Aware now that the secret to a full life is being aware of how one might choose to spend his/her time on a daily basis. Fully knowing that our time is not promised, and will eventually…run out.
“Those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear for the future have a life that is very brief and troubled; when they have reached the end of it, the poor wretches perceive too late that for such a long while they have been busied in doing nothing.“~Seneca, “On The Shortness of Life”
The recent changes that most everyone have been forced to make to their own routine has brought about some very pertinent questions in me, one being… Am I spending my time wisely? One might think that we should have more TIME to get everything accomplished. Here is the kicker, there are still only 24 hours in a day. How am I spending my 24 hours? Have I been busied in doing nothing?
I do have a little bit of a routine in how I like to spend my time. I know now that I enjoy waking slowly. I may have always known this, as I have never liked the sound of a blaring alarm. I then like to make my way to the kitchen for my morning must-have, my coffee. Then I will proceed in taking care of everyone’s breakfast as they wake up, one by one. I used to worry about many other things, but everything that I have been worried with lately has been based mostly on our internal needs. Health being the top priority. Growing knowledge coming in a close second. I took a moment to analyze how I choose to spend my time. This is what I came up with, my Weekly TIME BUDGET…
Why do we think we have all the time in the world? At what point does this lie get planted into our minds? The time we have been given, is all that we will ever have. There is no way to store up more time for later. There is no way to earn more time. It’s not like we can do things on “time credit” that concept will never exist. We only have what we have, and instead of treating TIME like it’s our most valuable asset that we will ever have any control over, we ignore our authority over it. The authority we have over it, has it’s limitations. It is limited to how one chooses to spend their OWN time, and once that time has been spent, it can’t be returned. Seneca suggested that the only way to add time to your life is to learn from those that have already lived. “They annex every age to their own; all the years that have gone before them are an addition to their store.” ~Seneca To take their knowledge and add it to ours. How does one do this? READ, READ, READ!
Choosing to learn from those that have already lived, will also teach you how to let go of your obsession with things that aren’t necessary. We become obsessed with being distracted. “They strive for something else to occupy them, and all the intervening time is irksome.”~ Seneca. We need distractions, without them, we complain of being bored. I hear it daily from my kids. They need a distraction almost every waking moment. I am actually bothered by how much they need this. Look at your life now, how much of it is spent on distraction? How much of it is spent on something useful and productive? What is your definition of useful or productive? Some people define productivity, by the amount of money made. As a teacher, I define productivity by a couple of things… was something learned, did someone grow?
We can learn from our past, and from the past of others. Those that do not take account of the past, have no concept of time and therefore will not feel like they have lived long no matter how long they may have actually lived. It’s almost like running a race. If you know you must run a certain distance before reaching the finish line, but you have no clue at what point you started the race. You will not know how close the finish line is to you until you have crossed the finish line. By then its too late to say you didn’t know, we are all running the race. Photo by Tembela Bohle on Pexels.com
This lie robs us of actions that we believe we’ll have time to do later, the things that mean something to us now should be our focus. The truth is, the only time any of us have is now. The trick to leading a full life with a reign on time is knowing that TIME can’t be stopped, but the authority of how your life is spent is up to YOU.
Good luck and GODSPEED! We must put down the distractions. Society can’t keep putting things off.
I have been reading “On The Shortness of Life” Seneca on the app, Scribd
Is anger a good thing or a bad thing? Anger, when first recognized, is actually just simply a warning. A signal from your amygdala blasting throughout your brain, sounding an alarm via chemicals, that warns your body that something is not right. Message received as, “there is a present threat and there is a possibility to fight, flight, or freeze.” Anger can therefore be seen as a natural response to external stimuli. It is a response that was designed in humans to help protect us in perceived dangerous situations. After reading what Seneca wrote on Anger, I concluded that he deduced that anger wasn’t natural, that reasoning was natural. The truth is, it requires more brain function to engage the logical areas of the brain. Leaving me to believe, emotion is more natural than thought.
The emotional response happens automatically. This emotional part of our brains (amygdala) is so much more developed than the logical part of our brain, which is known as the prefrontal cortex. The emotional part of our brain has kept us alive, reacting to the world without much thought to consequences, other than one that is primal, “Stay alive!” While this much developed area of my brain has kept me alive, it has also assumed for far too long that it is in charge. I have now learned that the prefrontal cortex can be trained/stimulated so that it can show the amygdala whose boss. Seneca was then saying that allowing our emotional brain to just run rampant in our lives wouldn’t be natural. The natural thing, the “good thing” is to have what we call In DBT, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, your wise mind always aware of what your amygdala and prefrontal cortex are doing. After studying stoicism and understanding that Cognitive Behavior Therapy was designed using stoicism. I can see how it’s philosophy is also helpful in The therapy I am currently receiving now. That this higher order thinking, being cognitively aware is the practice of stoicism. “through Stoic training, Aurelius was able to master his perceptions and see each obstacle as an opportunity to improve”(dailystoic.com) mastering our perceptions, added with the knowledge of how our minds naturally respond will help most manage anger.
You can find some exercises for the prefrontal cortex below…
If you have read any of my previous posts or know anything of Borderline Personality Disorder, becoming a stoic is changing the natural way in which my BPD brain will more than likely over respond to the difficult to digest external stimuli. Like black is to white, BPD is to stoicism. The way in which one chooses to respond to this automatic alarm system is what I believe answers our question today. When anger is triggered inside the mind, it is neither good nor bad. It is not decided until we respond.
Anger, shows duality, with the possibility of being both good and bad. Stoics believe that there is no good with anger. They were told to see that there is no good, because of all the “evil” it created. They want every stoic to believe that there is no good to be found in anger. I see the justifications of their message. A calm and sound mind, not writhing with “passions” can be controlled. One drowning in anger or other “passions” cannot. So then, if looking at it from this perspective, serenity isn’t the final goal, but rather control. Or does control get us to the place of serenity? I have had moments, in which I have given into passions of anger and it has kept me alive. So isn’t it necessary to be alive in order to be serene? Can we have one without the other?
I absolutely want to be a stoic sage someday, using this higher-order thinking to get through the most complicated of situations with clarity and peace of mind… I’m left perplexed at this particular question. While I understand what the stoic philosophers were trying to convey to their followers in those times, teaching people to seek serenity. Being calm and collected leads to logical thinking and sound decisions. I have also experienced anger on several levels. Ultimately, anger has ensured my existence during some pretty tough times. More recently, I find that I am just angry at myself and my mistakes and this anger has propelled me to find better ways to manage myself, my disorder, and my life. Has it been pretty? No, fighting my way to this point hasn’t been pretty. I feel that’s why we are all built in this way. There is no way to determine which human will be placed in prime conditions and which will be placed in tough conditions. The emotional tools we are equipped with may not be dispersed equally, but we were all equipped with the ability to learn. I choose now as I am on the verge of entering my forties, to learn this higher order thinking. Working a portion of the brain more and more, so that my logical mind becomes stronger every day. My ultimate goal being serenity in this deeply maddening world.
I had a discussion with my students the other day about anger. One student said, “as a kid, my counselor told me not to show my anger, but to keep my anger to myself.” I felt that wasn’t a very healthy way to teach a young person to deal with such an intense emotion. I asked him, “How has that advice worked out for you?” My student responded with, “I’m still trying to find a useful method to control my anger.”
I then asked, “what if we started looking at anger differently?” A lot of puzzled stares looking back at me. I then said, “what if we started looking at the positive ways in which anger can be of use to us? Can anger be of use to us? Can we manage it? Or do we let that emotion manage us?”
What if we started looking at the positive ways in which anger can be of use to us?
What are positive ways anger has helped you?
Can anger be of use to us?
Can we manage anger, or do we let anger manage us?
Emotions indicate so many things for an individual, learning to understand our emotions and why we choose to respond in certain ways, increases not only our emotional intelligence but the control we possess over ourselves. Why then should anyone just ignore this emotion, anger? Especially, when anger is often the first emotion we go to when life gets confusing, or when we are afraid, when we feel threatened or rejected.
“Anger is temporary madness: the Stoics knew how to curb it” By: Massimo Pigliucci, here he states 10 ways to curb anger! Maybe one of these can help…
Engage in preemptive meditation: think about what situations trigger your anger, and decide ahead of time how to deal with them.
Check anger as soon as you feel its symptoms. Don’t wait, or it will get out of control.
Associate with serene people, as much as possible; avoid irritable or angry ones. Moods are infective.
Play a musical instrument, or purposefully engage in whatever activity relaxes your mind. A relaxed mind does not get angry.
Seek environments with pleasing, not irritating, colours. Manipulating external circumstances actually has an effect on our moods.
Don’t engage in discussions when you are tired, you will be more prone to irritation, which can then escalate into anger.
Don’t start discussions when you are thirsty or hungry, for the same reason.
Deploy self-deprecating humour, our main weapon against the unpredictability of the Universe, and the predictable nastiness of some of our fellow human beings.
Practice cognitive distancing – what Seneca calls ‘delaying’ your response – by going for a walk, or retire to the bathroom, anything that will allow you a breather from a tense situation.
Change your body to change your mind: deliberately slow down your steps, lower the tone of your voice, impose on your body the demeanour of a calm person.
My Conclusion: I thought about anger for an entire week. Oddly enough it kept me from getting angry. While I may not have answered the question for everyone here, my answer is… Anger, like all other emotions is necessary. It is neither a good or bad thing. To let it get out of control is bad. To see what it can do for us when we need it to survive, is good.
Have a great day! The end! 🙂
A game that could help improve logic… Chess
**Wanted to include a huge thanks to @dailystoic and @stoiccoffeebreak for wonderful podcasts! Thanks for stirring good thoughts and inspiring and motivating me to change the things I can control. Check out their podcasts if you are learning on the stoic philosophy.
I mentioned in my last post that I am beginning a personal journey of becoming a Stoic. A practicing Stoic that also has BPD, learning more about the Philosophy of Stoicism has actually been quite therapeutic for me and has offered many great coping skills to help with my daily struggles. Does this mean I have figured out how to regulate my emotions when they become dis-regulated? Not entirely, not yet, but what it has shown me, is that it’s ok to feel certain ways about certain things. That these feelings don’t always have to be agreeable with others. As they are MY feelings. That the moments I am asked for my opinion, thoughts or feelings on a matter my response at that point only requires honesty, and if I’m not sharing my honest opinion, thoughts, and feelings about things and I am just telling a person what I feel they want to hear, I am in fact using a form of manipulation. As they aren’t seeing a true version, but a version I’ve created for them. (My life in a nutshell!)
“In order to please others, we lose our hold on our life’s purpose.”
Epictetus
This one personality choice. Choosing to please others, a choice that was made without really being aware of the harm it would bring me and my loved ones during my adult years, is one I hope to break. It truly seemed harmless. I was just pleasing others. No, I wasn’t. I had been painting a picture all those years. Only the picture I had been painting was not a true picture of who I am, and now no one knows what the hell they are looking at, (I’m left looking like a Picasso!) At some point in my life before I had made that decision, I had learned that I liked making others happy, or thought that I had some sort of control over making others happy. Stoicism, tells us we only have control of our internal/external responses for ourselves and only ourselves. living as a people pleaser had not only proven to be exhausting, it proved to be a downright painful existence. I’d wonder about, latching on to other’s opinion’s or beliefs and then think who am I? Where do I stand? It was becoming more and more apparent that I had no solid grip of my own identity. No consistency with who I was, no boundaries, just out to please, no limits. Do you know anyone like this? Are you like this? Is it wrong to be this way? Maybe the question is better asked this way, is it right to live this way?
“To find yourself, think for yourself.”
Socrates
I have been a self-prescribed people pleaser for so long it’s hard for me to pin-point the age of my youth at which this actually started, but it wasn’t until adulthood that I started to really feel the negative repercussions of this prescribed way of life. I wouldn’t stand up for what I wanted, because I had no actual clue of what that was. I would easily go along with whatever it was anyone else wanted to do, or agree with what was said just as long as they appreciated or made note of my easy-going personality. I wanted to be liked. Not for the things that made me unique, or the things that actually made me, me… I just wanted to be liked and this meant at any cost.
Wearing masks is actually a part of having BPD ( Borderline Personality Disorder) I’d say it’s a side affect of being a people pleaser as well. I listen to several different stoic podcasts daily for inspiration and direction. One morning, I hear that masks are important in stoicism, but they are referred to as roles. When I am at work, I fulfill a role as a teacher. When I am at home, I have two roles, my first role being a wife and second role being a mother. Our first roles are generally given to us when we are born, either as a son or daughter. I grew up thinking that I never fulfilled my roles very well. Especially after my parent’s divorce. Now, after looking at it through the lens of stoicism. I observe that the expectation I once had of myself may have been impossible. I kept trying to fix everything that was broken. That was not my function, which is why I felt my role was left unfulfilled. I look back and notice that I was raised primarily by my dad and was the only daughter. I was also the only grand-daughter on my mother’s side. No one taught me how to be a daughter. I just discovered what that meant on my own, just like we all discover our roles. I can only expect to function in my role, no more and no less. I can only do my best. My best is what I will do. That is all!
I am just now learning how to respond to the world in an honest way. I know this will take major mindful intentions in order for me to make these changes. I plan on making these changes daily and have already taken the first steps. I’m pleased to say, I’m not here to please everyone, I am here to be me. Have a great day, just be you! Those that love you for who you truly are, truly deserve to be in your circle!
**Wanted to include a huge thanks to @dailystoic and @stoiccoffeebreak for wonderful podcasts! Thanks for stirring good thoughts and inspiring and motivating me to change the things I can control. Check out their podcasts if you are learning on the stoic philosophy.
Emotional dis-regulation might be the opposite term one could use for Stoicism. I’ve lived most of my life without acknowledgement to my dis-regulated emotional state. In my teen years, emotional dis-regulation could be seen on most days. This dis-regulation often misinterpreted as just being a teenager. As teens are often moody, impulsive, and emotional. It was a convenient front being a teenager, as everyone assumed I was behaving normally. As a child I can remember being so upset at times that I required a paper bag to breathe into just to help with hyperventilating. This happened many times. Again, the excuses were she just needs to calm down, she is just sensitive. Being a shy little girl, I was unable to communicate properly about the things I was feeling. This made it easy for others to believe I was fine. I still at times get almost to the point of hyperventilating when I experience an event that I have perceived as negatively emotionally-charged, or I perceive I am being blamed. I have moments where I feel my entire person has been hijacked and is now under someone else’s control. This is the danger of being highly emotional and highly reactive to your situation/s. You become subject to reacting without logic, thus leaving the person feeling like a puppet being manipulated by someone else. If I am not in control, then who is?
The stoic philosophy says that one shouldn’t react but rather look at the situation as something that you can not control. The only thing that you do control is your thoughts and your reaction in that moment. The stoic philosophy reminds one to stay mindful, in the present moment. Not to worry about the future, but educate yourself that tragedies and challenges are sure to be expected. That one shouldn’t take this personally as each of us are being challenged.
Understanding this philosophy has helped create some control for myself. I have been able to halt an impulse, as I consider the way in which I can be better received. It is my way of having some control in every situation. It alleviates the constant push and pull that we often feel when dealing with difficult situations. It’s understanding that you do hold some power, but that this power is limited to just your own actions and responses. Once you try to push your power onto something or someone else it is no longer a power, but a wasted effort or wasted breath. You then push everything out of balance and something may fall apart. In my experience the thing left falling apart would be me.
If you think about yourself as a lightbulb, it might help explain my understanding of this philosophy a little better. A lightbulb’s main function and purpose is to produce light, to lift darkness. Some may say that your light isn’t bright enough, others may say it’s too bright. Stoicism says, it doesn’t matter what others say, as long as YOU are shining as brightly as YOU can. That is all you can control. You don’t control where you are placed. You don’t control when your power is cut off, or how long you should last before your light burns out, but you can do your best knowing that you did your best at what you could control, and be happy that you were able to shine your light. This thought is so soothing to me, I honestly feel it has helped my anxiety more than my anti-anxiety meds.
I have several roles I fulfill on the daily, who doesn’t? My life is not so different from most. I am a daughter, I am a sister, I am a wife, I am a mother of two, I am a teacher, I am a friend, etc. we could list the roles for a little bit longer I am sure of this. The beauty with stoicism isn’t to compare your role to that of another, it’s to ask yourself while on a said task, fulfilling specific roles, are you genuinely focused and completing the task to the best of your ability? This has changed my daily life in a huge way. When I find myself doing something I don’t particularly care to do, the complaints cease and I am left repeating the question, is this the best I can do? Which leaves me doing a much better job and feeling the intrinsic reward of completing something at my best.
I am just starting this journey, practicing and learning stoicism. Hopefully the question is answered in my progress. I do hope someone with BPD can become a stoic. Have an empowered day, knowing that you can only do your best and that is more than enough.
* if you are on a similar journey please share your thoughts/feedback on stoicism in the comment section. Have a mindful day!
**Wanted to include a huge thanks to @dailystoic and @stoiccoffeebreak for wonderful podcasts! Thanks for stirring good thoughts and inspiring and motivating me to change the things I can control. Check out their podcasts if you are learning on the stoic philosophy.
