There's a saying that you should live each day as if it were your last, which is supposed to help you fully enjoy each moment. I've been recently thinking about another way of looking at it: living each day as if yesterday was your last. What do I mean by this? Well, let me explain how I got around to thinking about this in the first place.

I am a bit of a pessimist when planning, which is perhaps a little surprising to people who know me in person because I'm generally cheerful and positive. I think it's precisely because I think about risks and safety nets that I can easily focus on the bright side. Now, thinking about what can go wrong often leads to dealing with ultimate consequences. (I can't be the only one who routinely thinks about death before biking in city traffic, am I? But I bike anyway.)

From time to time, I reassure myself that hey, life so far has been pretty darn awesome, actually, so even if it were abruptly cut off or made significantly more challenging, things are on the whole pretty good. I might not have worked on things of lasting significance (and what could really be significant, anyway, in a universe probably heading towards heat death in gazillions of years?) and there may be more awesomeness ahead of me, but even after the thirty years I've been around so far, people have told me that some of my thoughts have been useful, and I'm happy with what I've been learning so far. That's as good a start as any, and anything else is icing on the cake. Instead of accepting the common view that life is incomplete unless you do X, Y, and Z, I like to think that life is pretty good, actually, and that things just get even more wonderful. (This is why I haven't quite gotten the hang of bucket lists–I don't have that burning sense of urgency and incompleteness.) I would prefer to keep on going, but I don't have to worry too much about missing out.

While chasing down some notes about hypomnemata (those personal notes I wrote about while thinking about my handbook), I came across Michel Foucault's The Hermeneutics of the Subject (2001, translated by Graham Burchell in 2005; you might be able to read it online). Here's the segment that got me thinking about this particular reflection:

With regard to our life, and this is the central point of this new ethics of old age, we should place ourselves in a condition such that we live it as if it is already over. In fact, even if we are still young, even if we are adult and still active, with regard to all that we do and all that we are we should have the attitude, behavior, detachment, and accomplishment of someone who has already completed his life. We must live expecting nothing more from our life and, just as the old man is someone who expects nothing more from his life, we must expect nothing from it even when we are young. We must complete our life before our death. The expression is found in Seneca's letter 32: “consummare vitam ante mortem.” We must complete our life before our death, we must fulfill our life before the moment of death arrives, we must achieve perfect satiety of ourselves. “Summa tui satietas“: perfect, complete satiety of yourself. This is the point towards which Seneca wants Lucilius to hasten. You can see that this idea that we must organize our life in order to be old, that we must hasten towards our old age, and that even if we are young we should constitute ourselves in relation to our life as if we are old, raises a series of important questions to which we will return.

(p110-111)

Aha! People smarter than me have thought about the same thing, but more eloquently and more deeply than I could have. In the same section, he writes about how society typically thinks old age is not as awesome as youth, but actually, old age is pretty cool because that's when all of your philosophical work comes to fruition and you're safe from many of the things that disturb other people. This reminds me a little of how my mom is slowly making peace with growing old. Sometimes it makes her sad. I want to tell her that it doesn't have to be all that bad. Granted, I am only turning 31 next month, so it's quite possible that I don't know what I'm talking about. We'll see in forty or sixty years. But if Foucault and Seneca say something along those lines with the advantage of quite a few years of experience (Foucalt was maybe 55 when he gave those lectures on hermeneutics that were later transcribed and translated for that book), maybe I'm onto something, or maybe I can take advantage of the springboard that they're offering.

I'm partly writing this reflection for myself, too, decades down the line. If Future-Sacha gets caught up in the confusion of the world, at least she'll be able to look back and say, “Okay, clearly you thought this at some point in time. What changed? What's true?” I would like to grow old like the way I am now, but I don't entirely know how things will work out yet. Still, if I look ahead a little and figure out how I'd like to live–old every moment, so that I can be young every moment–then I'll probably have a higher chance of reaching it, I think.

The nice thing about reading philosophers (especially classic ones!) is that they've often come up with short, clear ways to say things that you've been trying to untangle. Like this, from Seneca's 12th letter (“On old age”):

When a man has said: “I have lived!”, every morning he arises he receives a bonus.'

Every day above ground is a good day. This is already more than I could have asked for, and what I have is already enough. Anything beyond this is icing on the cake and fudge on the brownie. (So remember that, future Sacha, when you're figuring out what could go wrong or you're worrying about opportunity costs. It's okay.)

I still have a lot to learn about growing old. I imagine that when I am properly old, I'll be less fazed (“That can't bother me! I've been through worse.”), more appreciative (“Ooh, there are all these little things you notice with experience.”), and better at reflecting, learning, and teaching. I think this process of growing older will be interesting. Who's with me? =)

I'm with the Stoics rather than the Aristotelians on this one (or at least based on how I understand things): all you need for a good life is you. I'm not wise enough to know whether that's true, but I think that it's better for me to live as if that's the case instead of thinking that happiness can be that much influenced by luck and external events. Challenge accepted!

I'm starting to understand what I'd like to aspire to be when I've infused whatever wisdom I can get from philosophy into my reflexive responses to life's situations. I'm not trying to get through life completely unruffled and serene. Stuff happens. I get sad. I get excited. I get scared. I get delighted. I react to the world around me.

At the same time, I like this ability to step outside of these impressions. I can see myself even as I laugh or cry, working on separating the facts from what I think about them. I can enjoy the ups and downs and yet not get carried away by them. I can be happy that something I cooked turned out well and that people liked it; and I can know that in the grand scheme of things, it's insignificant (but worth doing anyway). I can be scared about the possible downsides of something I'm going to try anyway; and I can know that in the grand scheme of things, it's insignificant (but worth doing anyway). Something can happen, and I know that I could respond to it in many different ways.

Whatever life throws at me, I can choose to respond and not just react. Sure, the first few moments might be more instinctive–pain hurts, joy elates, sometimes I say the wrong thing–but what happens after that is up to me.

I'd like to avoid getting carried away by stuff, the way people get consumed by grudges or misled by temptations. I think that's what the Stoics meant in their focus on ridding themselves of passions–not “passion” in the modern sense of “things I feel awesome about and enjoy doing,” but rather the kind of “passion” that takes over your reason and leads to suffering.

I guess I'd like to be like a roly-poly toy, like the egg-shaped Weebles of the slogan “Weebles wobble but they don't fall down.” Then the Stoic idea of a passion might be wobbling so much and not quite being the shape that you need to be to bounce back, ending up so far off your center of mass that you stay down (or at least until other people help you get back up, because really, sometimes people do get wobbled more than they can handle, and that's an opportunity for other people to help out).

So far, I've been extraordinarily lucky. It's been easy to return to normal from the little things I've come across so far. You know how some video games are designed to gradually help you learn different skills and others throw you in the deep end? So far my life has been like the former. When things come, they're within my range and I have the support structure that makes them easier to deal with. So I guess that's like I'm playing a game where you get just enough wobbling so that you can correct your mass distribution or egg-shaped profile in order to wobble back better.

Which is sort of Stoicism, I think. Stoicism helps with adjusting so that you can deal with bigger and bigger wobbles if you need to. Stoicism reminds you that you are not the wobble that pushes you. You don't control the wobble, so why bother stressing out about it? You can get better at bouncing back. You can work on becoming the weebliest Weeble.

I sometimes hear from people who are playing a much harder game, where they have to deal with pretty darn big wobbles before they've been able to sort things out. I'm not sure I have that much to offer. Newbie tips aren't as useful for people stuck playing life on the “hardcore” setting, I guess! I can say that I'm working on being a better roly-poly toy and that it seems to be working out so far, but I definitely haven't wobbled as much as other people have. But maybe reflections from someone living an easier version of the game can help people think about little aspects of their own games, either from the actual thoughts or even just the process itself.

One of the thoughts that helps me is this: wobbling's what makes Weebles Weebles. So as much as I'm sure people wish for care-free lives, I'm okay with there being some wobbling in mine. I might not actively seek out really wobbly situations, but if they're there, they're there, and they can help me be better. Eventually, perhaps, experience will let me bounce back quickly from minor disturbances (or even ignore them entirely); and more and more things will seem minor, too.

In the meantime, wobbling away!

What are the ends I pursue, and how do I pursue them?

I agree with Aristotle in that my ultimate end is happiness. For me, happiness is more along the lines of equanimity or tranquility: being able to appreciate the good parts and being confident that I can weather the tough parts. From stoicism, I understand that things aren't good or bad in themselves; it's more about my responses to those things. So for me, a good life is one where I can respond as I want to and as I should.

More specifically, what would that good life look like, and what are the goals I want to strive towards?

One easy goal to plan for is a good financial foundation. It's easier to act freely when you're not worried about food or shelter. I also work on keeping frugal, moderate tastes and a detachment from things. “It's just stuff,” W- and I say as we drop things off for donation or resist buying more things.

I value learning, too. I like feeling concepts click together, learning how to build more complex things. I particularly like it when I can use what I'm learning to save time, especially when I help other people avoid repetitive, mechanical work.

I enjoy learning and working the most when I can create something distinctive that takes advantage of an unusual combination of skills or experiences. For example, I like the social business consulting that I do because it's uncommon for people to be interested in large organizations, collaboration, workflow, change management, data visualization, programming, and design. I enjoy working on Emacs or on self-tracking because both lend themselves well to idiosyncratic questions and personal curiosities.

I've been self-consciously writing about leisure for what feels like too many days now. I'm trying to figure out how I want to spend my time, since that's a decision I'm going to make repeatedly over decades. My answers will change over the years, too, but if I think about it a little, I might be able to make better decisions.

Most of the time, we think of relaxation and recreation as ways to recharge ourselves so that we can get back to work with more energy. Aristotle prizes the contemplative life, where you use your leisure time not just to amuse yourself, but to improve.

What does that mean to me, though? For example, I could spend some time learning languages, or developing my drawing skills, or picking up a new technology. There's so much more to learn about all sorts of other subjects. An easy answer to the question “What shall I do with my time?” might be to volunteer, but I would also want to do that with deliberation. What will help me grow, and what's just a nice-to-have?

Let's say that I don't know enough to choose those topics from the beginning. How can I get better at observing myself and learning from how I use my leisure time? What would make a difference when I look back over a long life?

One of the things that has helped me a lot and that I'd like to get very good at is the ability to notice (as the Less Wrong community phrases it) that I am confused, and to explore that confusion. Reading helps me notice the gaps and find words to describe things, and writing helps me start to untangle the knots. If I keep getting better at this, then when I'm much more experienced, I might be able to spot opportunities for growth, catch myself before I make mistakes, and also help friends think through their own lives.

Learning various skills (tech, DIY, cooking) helps improve my self-efficacy. I can make more things myself, and I can imagine more things too. Besides, it's fun, and occasionally economically useful.

I'm still not as keen on conversation and friendship as I probably should be, at least according to Aristotle. I enjoy conversations with W- most of all. I like the mix of practicality, growth, and whimsical puns. On occasion, I enjoy conversations with other people, especially those I think well of and want to support. Other times, I talk to people for variety and social exercise. I'm comfortable with that because I'm not trying to be popular, entertaining, or entertained. I don't mind taking my time with the slow collection of interesting people I can learn from and help.

I can use my leisure time to learn how to prefer things that are good for me. For example, I'm working on that exercise habit. I'm sure that once I've gotten into the swing of things, I'll be able to enjoy it – I just have to stick it out until then. I have much to learn about music, art, design, and literature, too.

I think a good life is one where I have the space, awareness, and control to respond to life the way I want to, and that I've learned to want what's good for me. I'd like to be able to say, looking back, that I've deliberated on how I wanted to live and that I've lived pretty darn close to what I decided. We'll just have to see how it all works out!