LVI. Celebrate Yourself + Gift Inside! 🎁
Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past.
The ‘Neuroscience-based Tools’ & ‘Lead to Win’ sections are companions for The Stoic Manual to help you become wealthier, happier & more powerful by boosting your resilience, motivation, relationships, focus, overall health, and leadership skills—by Dr. Antonius Veritas.
P.S.: Skip to the bottom to get The Stoic Manual Reflection & Celebration Notion Template to help you assess 2024 and stock up fuel, momentum, and confidence for a prosperous 2025.
"Life is a warfare and a journey far from home." — Marcus Aurelius.
It hurts to know we're all alone in this world.
Not only because we're responsible for ourselves as we talked about.
But also because no matter how good we get, the progress we're making, what we win, we'll still meet with envy, sleek passive-aggressive remarks, and people who ask us for more before they even say thank you.
People who gloss over our accomplishments.
Sometimes even those closest to us will be unhappy because our success makes their lack of progress stick out like a sore wound.
Or they’ll be ungrateful and it'll hurt us like a bitch.
That's why we'll be prudent to celebrate ourselves.
For just as we’ve put in the effort to elevate, see virtue as the highest good, discard worry and anxiety, optimize our body and brains for success, learn leadership skills, practice wisdom, courage, relentless discipline, and prosocial behavior, being proud of ourselves is still our responsibility.
We can't outsource it to others.
And why would we want their charming words anyway?
They would never feel the weight of the chip on our shoulders, the dread of the cold nights, the demands and opposing forces in our peripheral vision, or relate to our moments of doubt enough to appreciate any of our accomplishments the way we would.
They would never know what it meant to go through the darkness so that we can appreciate the light.
You watched yourself love circumstances that would break some people, find a benefit in them, and now months later you’re busking in the glory of how elite and wholesome it has made you.
Remember how you helped those who doubted and spoke ill about you, did good despite the inconvenience it would cause you, and now your reputation for goodwill is attracting more opportunities than you’d ever imagine.
It's love that brought us here in the first place.
Love for who we are, our purpose, the people around us, the universe’s machinations.
And more love will take us further.
Look, I know it's hard to ask for some emotional needs like acknowledgment when you've been working hard and it was your duty to do so.
To want to be treated like a king without coming off like you're a brat, diminishing other people’s efforts, or entitled.
Even Marcus Aurelius told himself,
“When you've done well and another has benefited by it, why like a fool do you look for a third thing on top—credit for the good deed or a favor in return?”
But understand that you're human.
You're not asking for the moon.
It feels great to be seen, celebrated, and appreciated for your beautiful character.
Your sovereign caliber—especially by the people closest to you: family, spouse, and friends.
To be celebrated is what the Stoics called a preferred indifferent.
You can do without it but it would be nice to experience it.
This ought to give you the confidence to ask for it from the people you know value you, without complaining or demanding.
Just ask then do the other reflection work I’ve provided down below by yourself to finish the process.
See, everyone has their journey, life to live and our success doesn’t help them in any way unless we're responsible for them—it has nothing to do with them and probably makes them feel much worse about their self-worth.
Not to explain away any rude remarks from the jealous, those can go die.
With nothing to call their own and our existence a reminder of their inadequacies, they project their insecurities on us for they’re afraid to face themselves.
We're better off ignoring them.
I digress.
This realization ought to make us more focused and committed to what we control, what we believe, do, the quality of the person we are and be comfortable with that, leaving the rest to happen as it wants.
It ought to make us love and celebrate ourselves more because only we truly can.
Doing our job is the gift itself.
It has to be.
Everything extra is unreliable for our well-being.
Again, it’s nice to have, not a must-have.
To afford a smile because we can now get some take-out once a week or tick off our bucket list with a loved one.
To get people to trust us to do a good job at the workplace.
To lose sleep or wake up excited to work on an idea—that's the fucking win.
It has to be.
For our sanity.
The Stoic Manual Reflection & Celebration Notion Template
“Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past,”—Seneca
You have to make self-belief, self-love, patience, and compassion for yourself laws you never break.
You have to recognize and celebrate your efforts because it’s not easy to do what you do.
Because the world can be cruel and indifferent to our needs—we think we’ve caught a lucky break, only to be foisted with more responsibilities.
Because you’re the only one who’ll be looking out for you, braving the lonely nights and the existential pain of powerlessness while you strive for success.
That’s why it’s important to reflect.
To know what you’re doing well, find joy in it, and what to avoid so you can keep flourishing, creating more wealth, power, and happiness.
For you deserve it all.
That’s why I made this Notion template to make all that easy.
It’s my gift to you, dear reader.
You’ll get:
—Thought-provoking prompts to reflect on 2024 while answering in the spaces provided.
—A gratitude and self-love inventory to help you cultivate internal validation and joy.
—A guide to help you Set your 2025 goals: Health, relationships, business, study, work, etc.
Access it through the link below.
