Smart Quote of the Day February 3, 2025

“We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.” — Seneca

Seneca the Younger was a practical philosopher born in Spain more than two thousand years ago. His words of wisdom are timeless, as evidenced by the fact that he is often still quoted today.

This quote is all about worry and anxiety. We humans have a tendency to future-cast, to imagine what is coming down the pike, to imagine what the consequences of our actions will be. We worry about what might happen if – finish the sentence.

For example, we’ve been in drought conditions for a of couple years now and our home is on a well. If the weather doesn’t normalize, this well could run dry. As the drought continues, I began to worry about this. What will we do if the well runs dry? Where will we get water? How can we shower and use the toilet and can we haul enough water for the horses?

I was worrying about something that might never happen. I was future-casting a negative reality, the exact opposite of what I wanted. As Seneca notes, I was suffering from my imagination.

How did I handle my anxiety and fear of the well going dry? First I looked at ways to deal with the problems a dry well would incur. Where could we take showers? How much water does it take to flush the toilet? How many 5 gallon jugs would we need to get through a day and where could we get the water? What could we do with the horses?

Once I came up with options for each of my worries, I realized that a) there was nothing I could do about the drought. Mother Nature will do her thing no matter what I have to say about it,  so there was no point in borrowing trouble. If the well runs dry, we will find a way to deal with it. Yes, we are still in a drought, but I no longer let it keep me awake at night. I am not letting my imagination make me suffer.