Going Alone

Reflecting on how I might use Stoic principles to handle a challenging moment.

I remember when I first thought up the idea of Going Alone. My family and I were living then in Japan, and I was making YouTube videos...

I was never very afraid of the dark, or the things which come out after the sun goes down, to wander, and slither, and creep, and fly...

There is a sea within us upon which circumstance presses restless winds night and day; forming crests and troughs, moving over the face...

There is an inward architecture which we create through the fact and consequence of our decisions and actions, which become the...

I awoke today to headlines of war, and gossip, and scandal, and the rise of stocks and advertisements for soap, and a 30% chance of rain...

Life is a little like coming awake on an island beach, naked and screaming and vulnerable and weak. The natives here do care for us, and...

"...and the very slope of the hill on which my house is placed, seemed to say, Forward!" -Henry David Thoreau I accept life as hard. I...

I have long dreamed of a nice, personal room where I can work. A little office at home where I can set up a desk and chair and my stuff,...

There is so much to occupy the time of life. So much to do. So many people to know, and love, and pass the time together with. One thing...

For what reason is temperance a virtue? Why do the sages live in austerity, and the desert fathers forsake the world, and the poet love...

It is not easy to not watch someone else struggling with life. I am not referring to not seeing them struggle, but not watching them do...

Words are like clay in the hands of a potter, who might pound together a rough cup and offer it "here!" as an implement of utility. And...

Emotions are a curious thing to ride upon. They jump and jostle and jolt and then rest, before picking up again and tossing all about. As...

October 22, 2019 Dear Eric, Our talks back then were so full of optimism. Our youth spoke only of life, and of the optimistic promise of...

October 10, 2019 Dear Eric, You not only knew the exact place and time of your death but you indeed even walked there. You went alone. I...

September 26, 2019 Dear Eric, You, my friend, were one wont to emotion. Though normally you were riding high atop the joyful bubble of...

September 13, 2019 Dear Eric, I was so tempted yesterday to title my latest YouTube upload Softypapa's last video. This is due to the...