Running with Epictetus

I stumbled on this Greek Stoic philosopher recently, and so many of his pearls of wisdom seem to relate to my life in general these days and also to my running over the years.

“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.” 

In other words, be prepared for the world's reaction if you want to go your own way.  Want to run a marathon?  Be prepared for people to tell you how terrible that is for your body, how crazy you must be.  Want to keep running when you are in your 60s or 70s?  Be prepared to have people tell you that you will ruin your knees.  Want to buy a Mini Cooper convertible?  How reckless and irresponsible!  How foolish and stupid!

There will always those individuals, some of them well-meaning, many of them friends, who are prepared to tell you how to live your life.

I will always remember this great cartoon from The New Yorker from several years ago that hung in my office at the Town Hall for a long time.  It must have been about that time in my career when, I remember, I was often being told, "We've never done it that way before."

Ha!  I love this cartoon!!!  "You'll be sorry!"