Do Not Swallow It All

Epictetus is trying to encourage avoiding mistakes. It is a guide to be tranquil, to live as the best way possible, to not get frustrated, isn’t it? If you are not supposed to be a football player, no matter how much you want it to be, you will not be. I agree that one has to analyze what it takes to do or be whatever you want to be. I committed that mistake, I thought I could be a ballet dancer starting to dance at 14 years old, turns out I started too late and I don’t have the muscles to be one, as Epictetus says, “But consider what leads up to it and what follows it, and undertake the action in the light of that.” (Section 29), what leads to be a ballet dancer building the muscles according to it, training almost everyday, having an specific weight, I don’t have that. Therefore, I cannot be one. I consider myself a “child” as Epictetus describes it, “who play wrestlers on time, gladiators another time, blow trumpets another time, then act a play.” (Section 29) I want to be a good student, read books, sing, dance, run, do Pilates, go to the gym, and be good at every single thing. Epictetus says I shouldn’t, I say I love to.

Yet, I don’t agree with some of the advices. Epictetus is wrong that one should care the same about other’s loses than in our own. How can we? If a beloved one, a part of our life dies it hurts us much more than it will hurt someone else. There is no way to change that feeling. “But when one’s own dies, immediately it is, “Alas! Poor me!” But we should have remembered how we feel when we hear of the same thing about others” (Section 26) There is no point of comparison. I know that when it comes to a cup we should not give much importance or different importance if its our cup or someone else’s… but not a love one, is not the same. Epictetus cannot compare a thing to a someone, is not the same and it will not be. I have learned not to believe everything I read. Even though Epictetus might be based on thorough studies and might be effective if well practiced, I do not take it all for granted.