“Such behavior! People don’t want to praise their contemporaries whose lives they actually share, but hold great expectations for the praise of future generations — people they haven’t met or ever will! This is akin to being upset that past generations didn’t praise you.”
MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.18
It’s easy to get so focused on the future that you miss the present. That includes the good things that others are accomplishing all around you — amazing achievements of your peers, your friends, your family members.
But we generally aren’t quick to praise these feats. We’re focused on tomorrow. We don’t make enough time to highlight and give due accolades when others achieve success today.
We’re often too focused on our own legacy, per today’s entry in The Daily Stoic. But author Ryan Holiday points out that we’ll never see our legacy. So what’s the point of that? We worry too much about what future generations will think of us — but we’ll never meet them because we’ll be long dead and won’t care anymore.
Are you going to build a statue in your own honor? Hopefully not. Will others build a statue of you? Who cares. Nevermind your legacy. What’s important is the great work being done by others all around you, right now — focus on that instead.
