Keep Going, Dreams Don't Have Deadlines.

keep going, dreams don't have deadlines.

“ vindica te tibi „ – and what we should learn from an old stoic like Seneca

if you have ever studied latin or philosophy, you will certainly have stumbled upon Seneca, a very problematic dude who, however, occasionally said the right things.

“ vindica te tibi „ is my all-time-favorite latin quote, it litterally means “ vindicate yourself for yourself „, but we can translate it better with “ take control of yourself „. in order to deeply understand this statement, let's take a look at stoic philosophy.

stoicism [ from latin stōicus and ancient greek Στωϊκός ( stōïkós ) ]: it’s a philosophy designed to make us more resilient, happier, more virtuous and more wise and – as a result – better people, better parents and better professionals. it is a philosophical and spiritual current with a rational (human rationality is the basis of everything), pantheistic (everything is God, God is everywere, the whole universe is God), deterministic (nothing happens by chance but everything is regulated by precise logical laws), and dogmatic (all that is, as being, is real and concrete) imprint, with a strong ethical and tendentially optimistic orientation. stoicism was founded in Athens around 300 bc by Zeno of Citium and later it was introduced to rome by Panaetius of Rhodes in the 2nd century bc. stoicism is a tool in the pursuit of self-mastery, perseverance, and wisdom: something one uses to live a great life, rather than some esoteric field of academic inquiry. [ sources wikipedia and dailystoic ]

Seneca was a stoic philosopher who lived in rome in the 1st century ad, and he wrote this quote in a letter addressed to Lucilus, a friend of his much younger than him, interested in philosophy and politics.

in this letter ( the first of his epistolary ) he deals with the theme of time and the brevity of life, a subject that he would often return to in many of his works. basically Seneca claims that life isn't actually that short, as the majority of people complain, we're just very good at waste our time beign slaves of something, instead of using it wisley. there are many ways people waste their time, he calls them " the busy ones ", those people who spend their energies on useless business and relationships, which lead neither to their personal growth nor to an economic, social or psychological advantage, just because they're used to it.

Seneca is saying that we are so used to wasting time, doing certain things just because we have been taught to do so, that we don't realize that we could do much more for ourselves and for our enviroment if we only knew how to use our time correctly.

" vindica te tibi " means that you have to take control of your time, because no one can give it back to you. your future depends on the investment in yourself and in your time, your future and who you are as a person is up to you. take control of yourself.

sometimes you’ll make mistakes. you’ll fall into old patterns again. what matters is that you pull yourself out of them. that you accept and forgive yourself. that you realise a slip up doesn’t mean you’re back where you were. that you’re still moving forwards. that you’re okay.

take yourself on dates, treat yourself like your own best friend and do the hard things that you know will make you happier in the long run 🎀

gentle reminder you can rise up from everything. you can recreate yourself. nothing is permanent. you are not stuck. you have choices. you can think new thoughts. you can learn something new. you can create new habits. all that matters is that you decide today and never look back.

trying so hard to make people feel good about their work while simultaneously breaking down internally because I didn't get an A