Stoic thought of the day:
“Rivers are easiest to cross at their source.” – Publilius Syrus
“I should have liked therefore, to have attempted to effect this cure in the earliest stages of the disorder, before its force was fully developed; it might have been checked by milder remedies, but now that is has been confirmed by time it cannot be beaten without a struggle.” ~ Seneca
“Kill the monster when it is small.” ~ Tony Robbins
“There is no vice which lacks a defense, none that at the outset isn’t modest and easily intervened- but after this the trouble spreads widely. If you allow it to get started you won’t be able to control when it stops.”- Seneca
“So on and so forth, you made a series of mistakes that lead to the submission: a monster that could have been addressed when it was just a baby, but through negligence, the problem grew and grew until it destroyed you.” – Chris Matakas
Procrastination is one of the key factors in my addiction growing into the monster it became. I kept telling myself that it “wasn’t that bad”, “everyone drinks a little to much” and “I will start being better tomorrow”. But for me tomorrow never came and the occasional drinking too much turned into all day, everyday. I chose to “play” with a disease that has plagued my family for generations and in the process I damaged those I love and nearly destroyed myself.
And the small things we toy with aren’t just substances but behaviors, one “little lie” turns into a whole other beast when we have to continue the lie or lie to cover up the initial lie and it begins to take on a life of its own. Or our little temper turns into abuse and the reason our spouse leaves us, the “just one text” turns into an affair, and the examples continue but the process all the looks the same: we chose to justify a behavior and engage it rather that killing the beast before it has the opportunity to grow.
Don’t become so connected to a moment that you lose perspective of the bigger picture.
Hold the line.
