Why Your Life Should Be Like a Big Play
Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations , Lifehacker’s weekly dive into the pool of stoic wisdom and how you can use its waters to meditate and improve your life.
This week’s selection is drawn from letters from Seneca addressed to Lucilius, then Sicily’s prosecutor. Scientists are not sure whether he and Lucilius actually corresponded or not, but, nevertheless, Seneca wrote 124 letters to him. All of them are collected in the work ” Letters of the Stoic” or ” Letters of Morality to Lucilius” .
Both in the play and in life, it is not how long the play lasts, but how good it is. It doesn’t matter at which stage you stop. Stop wherever you are – just make sure you end it with a good ending. – Seneca, Letter LXXVII
What does it mean
Life is like a play, but instead of acting out a story, you are experiencing it. It doesn’t matter how long you live, but how well you live. The good life, like the good game, is filled with exciting ups and downs and, most importantly, an engaging protagonist that others will root for. Seneca suggests that it doesn’t matter when you die, as long as you live up to that moment, stay true to yourself, and can find a way to gracefully accept your last bow.
What to take from there
A life well lived will always be better than a long life lived. You work every day convinced that you have so much to do , but what are you doing to live well? Do you just work to survive, or live to do a job that you are proud of?
Seneca warns us about the workload and involvement in the rat race:
Someone, however, will say, “But I want to live because of all the worthy pursuits I do. I carry out my life duties consciously and energetically, and I do not want to leave them unfulfilled. ” Well, did you know that death is also one of life’s responsibilities? You do not leave any responsibilities unfulfilled as there is no fixed number of responsibilities that you must perform. – Seneca, Letter LXXVII.
Performance only matters when you are living well – when you chase the horizon in the direction indicated by your heart’s compass. So wake up! You are alive and you have a story to tell! Every second of waiting, every apology, makes your game a dull exercise. “You have so much time here,” Seneca warns.
The fool, with all his other shortcomings, also has this, he is always preparing to live … you will see how disgusting is the impermanence of people who every day lay new foundations for life and begin to build new hopes, even on the brink of the grave. Look in your mind at individual cases: you will think of old people who are preparing for a political career, travel or business at this very hour, and what could be worse than preparing for life when you are already old. … – Seneca, Letter XIII
The time has come. When you feel stuck in a rut, stuck in a mode, or spinning on wheels, ask yourself the following questions:
- Should I watch my play?
- Am I being good?
- What can I do to be good and thus live well?
You may never get a standing ovation or standing ovation, but when the curtain falls, you’ll have peace of mind knowing you’ve performed at a lifelong level.
You can read all of Seneca’s letters for free here .