In the book, On The Shortness of Life,the philosopher Seneca states: “It is not that life is short – we waste most of it.”
Seneca lists how some people waste their lives, and I’ll share my point of view about it. The idea is for everyone to interpret the list in his or her own way, enriching the discussion.
1) Greed and incessant search for money
Everyone who knows me knows I like the good life. I do not see any problem in having money; I think money is needed and an important part of our 3D world.
The problem is when we waste everything that is part of what “life” is to run after it: relationships, leisure time, dreams, another lifestyle.
And even worse is when we do it as automatons, conditioned by the expectations of others or by what is considered “normal”: a 9-5 job, choosing college based on what will give you more money instead of what you really want to do, whatever, you get the point.
2) Dedicate yourself to useless tasks and idleness
Procrastination. You know what I’m talking about.
The best thing I read about it was a Prem Baba´s phrase: “Laziness is not only doing nothing – is also not doing what is needed to be done.” You help your friend to build her project, chasing after her dream, but this is just the way you managed to not have to deal with yours.
3) Addictions
Seneca talks about drinking in the text, but the modern world has brought other vices. The one we are denying at the moment has a name: Netflix.
Yes, it is an addiction. You can present all the excuses: you use it to watch documentaries, to learn; you replaced nasty and violent soap operas for this, etc., but the fact is that binge watching is replacing productive and quality time, and we know this.
I am super pro-idleness – I think it is needed to stimulate creativity. The thing is that when we allow all our free time to be filled by a story created by someone, our creativity is not being stimulated.
4) Worrying about others’ judgment
Yes, we waste our lives with this, on a large and small scale: it goes from not taking your sandwich to the beach because of “what people will think,” and goes to: “I will not live a digital nomad life, working without a fixed salary and traveling freely because my family and my friends will think I’ve gone crazy.”
5) Anxiety from danger
You probably read this and thought, “No, I’m not that anxious.” But the fact is that we are. This, incidentally, was one of the reasons why I stopped watching “the fear news” that just talk about violence and crisis.
We stop doing many things for fear of danger, whether it is violence in the cities, or the danger of not having the security to pay the bills at the end of the month or a house to call yours.
6) Deal with others people money
Also known as “making other people rich.” Remember: you are working all the time for someone’s dream – if it is not yours, then you are using your lifetime for someone else’s dream.
7) Self-imposed servitude
This is one of my favorites. How much life has been wasted by the need to please everyone, by the fear of disappointing this or that person, by the need to return a favor received (a need that exists only in our head), by the moral obligation to do something that is not being done with your heart?
8) Not pursuing a goal and living in inconstancy
Seneca mentions here people who move from one project to another and are always dissatisfied with themselves. I guess there is nothing I have heard more, lately.
Many people have multiple interests at the same time and can bring everything to life: if you are the mind creating something and use the help of someone else that has the performer profile, that is okay. However, all those projects that are in our head or on paper and do not come to fruition, to practical life, fit in this category.
9) Not having goals
One of the phrases that helped me most in my life was this, written in bold letters: “WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT?” And the author of the text challenged us to put the answer on paper.
Your goal does not have to be to save the world: it may be to live a quality life, to have more free time to dedicate to your children, to live in the countryside.
Every day, no exception, ask yourself, “What can I do today that brings me closer to my goal?” And your life will never bewasted.