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Seneca: Nothing Is Ours, Except Time
The rest of your life is merely time
In the deceptively simple and beautiful nature of life, as we slowly embrace all that is good, we are reminded that absolutely nothing belongs to us except time. Assets and possessions are things we control — things we are bound to lose or even lose when mismanaged.
Nothing is truly ours — not our possessions, not our relationships, not our opinions. All of these things are temporary and will eventually disappear.
What’s genuinely ours is the time we spend and our experiences while we still have time. Our attachments to things can lead us to a false sense of security. But nothing in this world can guarantee meaningful security beyond the passage of time.
Time is the most precious thing we have, but it’s fleeting. Even if you do everything in your power to make it last as long as possible, you will have to let it go. So invest it for better returns; don’t abuse or misuse it.
Seneca was a Stoic philosopher, teacher, and politician who lived in the 1st century BC. He is best known for his work on philosophy, but he also wrote on ethics, natural philosophy, and politics.
In Letters from a Stoic, the great Roman Stoic Seneca explains:
