EP21 - Do without

I’ve got a little secret to tell. Yes I am the CEO of a company and founder, and a lot of people will see from my social media that I travel a lot. It would give the impression that I leave the rich at high life. But nothing could be further from the truth. I actually lead to very humble life and some of that has been forced upon me. (Bad financial decisions). I also drive a very old car. It’s a 10-year Ford Fiesta With 200,000 km. Recently I’ve been thinking about replacing it. Second gear doesn’t really work since my daughter took the car a few years ago, the cruise control is broken and it has squeaks. But it works. I’ve been thinking about replacing it with a tesla. I love the idea of the ultimate car technology and removing one more carbon consuming car on the road. I was recently looking On their website and I got that familiar little tingly feel you get when you get closer to that thing that you’ve been wanting to buy for a long time. I was getting closer and closer. But then I thought of Seneca and Epictetus and their stoic advice to practice poverty. This doesn’t mean to go without food necessarily. But it means to go without period. So I’ve resisted the new car quite awhile and I occasionally have these flashes of thoughts to buy the new one. But I think back to the practicality. Am I trying to impress people? Am I trying to impress myself? Do I really want to save the planet that badly? Surely I could buy a cheaper version of an electric vehicle? So I’m going to resist a little bit more. My life goes on regardless. It’s no worse and it’s no better. I got back from work today just fine and the world will keep spinning. The stoic philosophy is all about training the mind to do the things that get you towards tranquility in the long term and not to succumb to spikes of impulse. Now I might buy the car sometime in the future, but I’ve resisted for quite some time now and I’m going to resist a little longer. Perhaps until the card dies altogether.

https://www.stevendipietro.com/blog/2020/3/5/diary-21-do-without-stoic-stoicism