How much time do we waste fantasizing about other people’s lives? And questioning our own?

It’s easier today than ever before. You scroll through Facebook, and you see your friends doing what you want to do. You glance at Instagram and see the faraway places that people are traveling. You hang out on Twitter and it seems like everyone’s life is more interesting than yours. You do this over and over again, and you can find yourself in a spiral of self-doubt and self-hatred. Are they doing better than me? Am I doing something wrong?

Stop worrying about what they are doing over there. The grass isn’t greener. Let them go their way. You know your path. Stay on it. In Seneca’s essay on tranquility, he uses the Greek word euthymia, which he defines as “believing in yourself and trusting that you are on the right path, and not being in doubt by following the myriad footpaths of those wandering in every direction.” The Stoics know where they are going. They trust themselves and their sense of the path.

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