Mastery: Defeating The Beast In Our Lives

Issue No. 9 | February 27th, 2023 | Read Time: 2 Minutes

Happy Monday Everyone!

We all have an ultimate desire we’re looking to achieve. Whether it’s money, fame, or a certain career, we’re always in the pursuit of one overall goal.

Our lives can be compared to that of an adventurer because we’re having to set off into the world and trust our own preparation to see it through to the very end.

A way to view your life is to see it as a fairy tale, to perceive your ultimate desire as treasure guarded by a ferocious Hydra. 

The journey just to get to the beast is long and treacherous, but it’s when the adventurer is at the door of the cave that they’re most likely to quit.

We tend to give up when we’re one step away from success because we’re not only tired from the journey, but because we’re afraid to finish it.

This Hydra is supposed to represent our biggest fears. The barrier between a life of conformity, or success.

But understand that being afraid doesn’t make you weak, it means you’re sane. Nobody is truly unafraid, so you have to have courage in order to face the beast.

Courage is the ability to act in spite of fear. The conscious decision to push forward regardless of any anxiety you’re feeling.

Your entire life is leading up to one moment, it’s the act of slaying the Hydra that will release the treasure you’ve been after for so long.

In Epictetus’ book Discourses, he talks about “what would have become of Hercules, do you think there had been no hydra to rid the world of?”

That if he didn’t have these life-defining challenges, he would’ve just rolled over in bed and gone back to sleep.

By showing up to battle and facing your fears, you now have the chance to become something worth fighting for.

If you want to live an uncommon life, you have to be willing to seek an uncommon approach to living it because nobody ever conquered the world by staying inside afraid of what it contains.

It’s simply a matter of justifying your fears and harnessing the courage to face them. To be persistent in battle because nobody has ever defeated a Hydra in a day.

You have to plan, strategize and recuperate because it’s a process that can only be achieved if you take your time.

It comes down to facing your fears, because you can either. . .

Until next time,

Isaiah Taylor

Dive Deeper

What I'm Currently Reading -

I'm currently reading Discourses, a book on the lectures taught by Epictetus on the Philosophy of Stoicism.

• If you'd like to see my notes pertaining to any of the books I have previously read, then check out my websiteisaiahctaylor.comto view my entire library of notes and summaries.

Quote Of The Week

• "Never let the fear of striking out get in your way." — Babe Ruth