A side effect of trying to help (personally, for me) was a panicky feeling, sleeplessness and even headaches at the stress of finding leads, seeing the quantity of requests for help, worrying about everyone that requested and so on. My heart was broken to realize that if I— a third person observer felt this way, what tension the patients and families of the infected were suffering through.

Societies of the past and present are just complex systems comprising of people and technology.

Although we have better technologies, we are not immune to the threats that faced our ancestors. If anything, our technological abilities bring more challenges. Our globalized economic system may be more likely to cause a crisis to spread.

Free to leave the office to enjoy dinner with my family before tucking my kids into bed…

Free to pursue my definition of success…

This also always helps me to weigh opportunities properly. Does this give me more autonomy or less?

Screw whether it’s fancy.

Screw whether it’s what everyone else is doing, whether it gets me a few more followers or a couple extra dollars. What matters is freedom.

Because without freedom, what good is success? As Seneca said, “Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”