“Well-being is realized by small steps, but is truly no small thing.”
ZENO, QUOTED IN DIOGENES LAERTIUS, LIVES OF THE EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, 7.1.26
Self-improvement is made possible and realized by a series of small steps. It’s not a big, momentous epiphany that changes our lives and our behavior forever — as much as we might want that to be the case. Philosophy is rather about doing the right things, day after day, one by one. It’s slow and methodical, and it’s not glamorous, but that’s how change is wrought in our souls and minds.
“The little things add up,” we are told in The Daily Stoic today, and that’s the truth. Together, thousands of right actions, wise choices, and good decisions combine to make us who we are. We’re a work in progress, with the key word being progress. It never ends, it’s ongoing and that’s called life!
You just take each little thing as it comes, and do what’s right in that moment. We must “do the next right thing”, as Carl Jung teaches us (and later, the character Anna from Disney’s Frozen movie). One by one, each after the other.
Step by small step, every day we continue to grow in our own personal journey. Not giant explosive revelations, not Eureka! moments of drastic change. But rather it’s the little choices that we make as our day unfolds — the ones that seem unimportant, but in aggregate they ensure we’re moving forward on our path to well-being.
