Roads Well Travelled

Daily Meditation #387–3/18/2023

Perhaps you used to be a League of Legends junkie (or World of Warcraft).
Or maybe it was eating McDonald’s nearly every day.
Like me, maybe you were a horrifically addicted alcoholic who needed liquor every day.
Or cigarettes.

Many of us have these “well traveled roads” in our past.

Now, in Eudaimonia we “preach” the idea of trying to live presently — “in the now” — as living in the past or future isn’t really “living,” as you’re still here.

But, the past can inform our present, sometimes, and we should take time to visit uncomfortable parts of that past, actively, just as we intentionally confront the thoughts of our own mortality with daily Death Meditation.

One day, maybe we are stressed to the max:

Kids are screaming. One, inexplicably, has an entire container of yogurt smeared into their hair while another has a fresh black eye.
A new and unexpected bill has just arrived, clamoring for the attention of our dollars, which are already depleted.
Our spouse texts us they’ll be home after the littles’ bedtime, as they’re working for every extra dollar possible to fight inflation and to pay these bills…

“Damn. A cigarette sounds so good.”

It’s been years.

So, let’s walk back in time to that formerly well traveled road — smoking.

It was expensive years ago. Money’s already tight, so why add the burden?
It merely delayed the inevitable with emotions.
It made you smell badly, which your spouse never cared for.
It made your house and car smelly too.
Smoking’s relieving effect was a double edged bastard sword — when you couldn’t get that relief, you became a monster.

And most of all — you’re quit. Imagine having to start that process again.

“We’ve been down that road many, many times before and we know where it leads. Let’s find a different way.”

Being conscientious of these “roads well traveled” helps us better inform our now.
Having the now be better informed helps us live in a manner consistent with the person we aspire to be.

What roads have you well traveled that you feel beckoning?

Hit the ✉️Email Subscribe✉️ button to get these DAILY in your inbox!

Follow for daily philosophical meditations.

These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”