Brian Johnson wakes to a broken AC on a 105°F Austin day and uses Stoic philosophy to reframe the annoyance. He invokes Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus to practice indifference toward preferences, treating the micro-annoyance as training for bigger challenges.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. This morning I woke up in the middle of the night and wondered if I'd eaten something that hadn't worked for me as I was sweating a bit and thought I might have a fever or something, but I was pretty sure I didn't. Then I went to check the thermostat and eek. The AC wasn't working. After 105 degree Austin summer day, the heroic gods thought it would be amusing to give me a chance to practice my philosophy. After a moment or three of internally whining, I decided to take them up on their offer. To practice my philosophy, my target, to channel my Inner Aurelius and Epictetus and remember to hold my preferences with indifference. Link to a plus one on that one. It wasn't hard. All I had to do was think of the billions of people who would in an instant, happily trade their problems for mine. Done whining over. And that's today's plus one. I realize we all have much bigger challenges than a broken air conditioning unit, but to the extent you feel so inspired, here's to seeing how quickly we can use the micro annoyances of our lives as fuel for our growth. So we're well trained for the big stuff. It's day one. We're all in. Let's go. P.S. the AC guys are understandably busy this hot Austin summer and won't be able to fix our unit until this afternoon. I'm sweating as I typed this plus one in my office. Perfect.
