Journals and letters are amazing things.
They are the committed thoughts a person had on that matter and are meant for a small audience.
One maybe two people are meant to read it unless the letter is addressed to a family member or something.
Marcus Aurelius wrote his notebook just for himself.
There were no plans to ever have anyone read it.
Yet here we are, peeking into the diary of the most powerful man on the planet millennia after his death.
Here’s what he wrote about dealing with jerks:
“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly.”
That’s right.
The emperor of the Roman Friggen Empire was reminding himself that people suck but that’s just part of life and you should just be ready for it.
He continues:
But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own…
And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him.
We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower.
To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural.
Bruce Lee also kept a journal to teach remind himself of things he’d learned.
He'd carry an index card with a reminder of a particular point to remember key things he was trying to drive deep into his sub-conscience.
Create Dangerously is a bit of that for me.
So here's a short message to me to remember important things from today:
Bryan,
Not everyone is going to like you.
You don't need to be liked by everyone to survive.You take embarrassment too much to heart. Stop being so serious.
You think that moment is the only thing that people will remember about you for the rest of their life.
You are not the hero of their story, though—They are. The world revolves around them, not you. So relax.
By no means is this free reign to be an asshole, but for heavens sake don't let what a few people think about you on a given day decide your self worth
Sincerely,
Bryan
PS: Also, remember to pick up milk.
I hope this helps you too, dear reader.
Well, maybe not the last part. Unless you need milk.