“Your principles can’t be extinguished unless you snuff out the thoughts that feed them, for it’s continually in your power to reignite new ones… It’s possible to start living again! See things anew as you once did — that is how to restart life!”
MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.2
It is possible to make mistakes, maybe even a lot of them. It is possible to lose focus, and misplace your discipline, and fall off the wagon in any number of ways. Personally, I’ve just recently come back after a long break that I allowed myself (after several months of very rigid self-discipline), and now I need to hit the restart button.
And it’s okay if you lost focus and starting making mistakes, back there. It happens to the best of us. Whatever already occurred is in the past now. I know that I haven’t held up my personal standards like I should have, over the past few weeks. It’s alright, it’s water under the bridge, and we should focus on the present anyway.
The truth is still the same. The principles are the same. You’ve already identified them, and you’ve already done so much learning! You’re not starting from scratch — you simply have to hit the restart button and start re-applying what you already know. As long as you have your thoughts and your wits about you, then you can start again. There’s no shame in that!
