“Every night before going to sleep, we must ask ourselves: what weakness did I overcome today? What virtue did I acquire?” – Seneca

I want to set this precedent for the year. I chose this first because I want to chronicle my progress at the end of each post of this series. I'll dissect one of my favorite philosophical quotes and how I lived it out that day. I want to see how this habit will affect me. Marcus Aurelius wrote, “It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.” When I was driving on my way home, I was thinking about the last article I wrote touching on opportunity cost.. I'll use myself as an example. What did young Mako Taco spend his hard earned money on? Spending it on useless things and impressing people who didn't care about me. Today, I invest my money and save it. I surround myself with friends who inspire me to grow in different ways. While I was in thought, I recognized a car on the road. It was the car of a person I cut ties with. In hindsight, it was due to the fact that he would come to me to bail him out financially. I was so caught up in helping another person, being their crutch, for the sake of keeping up with the notion that good friends are there for each other through the tough times. Rather than getting angry, I felt relief about the end of our friendship. In my head, I wished him and I a prosperous year.

What weakness did I overcome?

I overcame my neuroticism that stemmed from what I thought other people were thinking of me. In plain English - I stopped caring about potential negative opinions from other people. I stopped ruminating over past negative experiences.

What virtue did I acquire?

I tempered my temper. I became more emotionally fit.