The famous ancient stoic king of Rome Marcus Aurelius once wrote to himself in his journal, “fight to be the person philosophy tried to make you.” If you have ever read any ancient philosophy, you have seen this idea pop up frequently. It reminds us that we have to play an active role in being the people that we want to be. We have to do the work.
Hearing people like Marcus Aurelius, who actively spent his days studying philosophy and how to live a good and moral life say this (and being pretty successful considering the kings before him) is also a demonstration that even the “greats” are not perfect. They still have to remind themselves daily to do the right thing and be the person they have set out to be based on the philosophy they have taught themselves. It’s not always automatic.
The same is true for our health.
We read books that get us excited about finally getting healthy. We do some research into the best diet and exercise programs to follow to help us reach our goals. We find in our research that to get the most out of our diet and exercise, we have to strive for lifestyle improvements like better sleep and stress management. We know that we want to be the type of person that does these things. That prioritizes them above giving in to every whim and temptation we are subjected to. But something doesn’t stick and we often fall short.
It’s no failure to fall short. In fact, to live a life even remotely close to being considered healthy is getting harder and harder. Like the stoics and ancient philosophers, even the healthiest influencers on social media struggle to make healthy decisions and often have to practice reminding themselves to do so.
And that’s the point. You have to do the work. You have to put into action those strategies you read in that health book. You can’t expect to read a book and everything just changes. Those temptations that you have struggled with in the past are still going to be there. You will have to tell yourself no when you want to skip the gym or go on a binge eating session. You will have to actually complete the actions that are required to be healthy. It won’t be easy, but it is within your control which means you have the power to do it. It’s time to adopt that mindset and start fighting to be the person you want to be.
Thanks for reading,
Chris Irvin
P.S. I would love to hear your thoughts on this newsletter. Please drop a comment below!