☀️ Stoic Morning Minute: Why Your Emotions Always Ride Shotgun

What a 30-Hour Journey Taught Me About Escaping Ourselves (And Why We Can't)

Author

Jon High
April 09, 2025

❝

All this hurrying from place to place won't bring you any relief, for you're traveling in the company of your own emotions, followed by your troubles all the way.

Seneca

💭 Modern Translation

Last week, my wife and I embarked on a grueling 30-hour drive to Seattle. Somewhere around hour 17, with my back aching and patience thinning, Seneca's words hit me: changing scenery doesn't change what's happening inside your head. The anxieties I was trying to escape were riding shotgun the whole time. The Stoics knew that physical distance doesn't create emotional distance from our troubles.

⚡️ Your Move

Next time you're on a journey and frustration hits, try the Stoic pause: instead of fighting against the situation, acknowledge what emotion is traveling with you.

On my Seattle drive, I realized my impatience wasn't about the traffic—it was the same impatience I feel at my desk, just wearing different clothes.

Name the emotion, accept its presence, and suddenly the road becomes less an obstacle and more a classroom.

🤔 Today's Question

What emotional patterns follow you wherever you go, and how might acknowledging them change your next journey?

To your next journey,

Jon

—Today’s newsletter is sponsored by MECO.

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