At uncertain and unprecedented times like those we’re currently experiencing, it’s easy to call upon Epictetus’ words that “some things are in our control and others not.”
But this is a false dichotomy.
In reality, we have a trichotomy of control. There are things over which we have complete control, things over which we have no control at all, and things over which we have some but not complete control. [1]
We don’t have complete control over our “impulses, desires, and aversions,” as Epictetus posits; we can’t preclude experiencing instinctive emotions, they’re involuntary. We’re human beings, after all.
What we do have, though, is control over how we choose to respond to those feelings.
We can choose to ignore our impulse to hoard goods at the expense of others, our desire to go against our better judgment and cash in our stocks when the market’s down, our aversion to self-isolate and distance ourselves from others.
We have a responsibility, to ourselves and others, to manage that third branch, so we can brave these tough times together. And it all begins with understanding the trichotomy of control.
Footnotes
[1] A Guide to The Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine.
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