The Ancient statesman Seneca, who was a mentor to Emperor Nero (before Nero went crazy), was one of the wealthiest and most erudite men in Rome. Seneca is probably my favourite philosopher to read. Out of all the books I’ve read, his Letters From a Stoic is one of the most wisdom-laden texts I’ve ever come across.
Here’s what Seneca said about how people who are busy don’t fall victim to depression or melancholy.
And I paraphrase:
In ancient Rome, when soldiers would become undisciplined and disorderly, they were sent on mounted expeditions so that they could refocus their minds and gain a sense of order back in their lives.
Seneca also wrote:
“People who are really busy never have enough time to become skittish.”
And I agree with him. I feel the best when I’m busy with things I enjoy, but it’s when I’m idle and inactive that the inner demons in my mind begin to fester.
Yesterday I was busy all day. I read, wrote, went to church, went shopping and went for a walk. But towards the end of the night, I got a feeling of melancholy. So I decided to get up and do something productive to distract myself from these undesirable feelings.
So I decided to do some much-needed spring cleaning. I cleaned my whole house top to bottom and filled up four bin bags with useless items I haven’t used in years (and put them in the trash). And in doing so, I felt amazing, and I still do.
In the past, I’d try to subdue my feelings in a futile manner by doomscrolling on TikTok or YouTube. Now I know that when I get these feelings of melancholy, I need to stay busy by doing things such as:
- Cleaning my house.
- Reading and writing.
- Going on walks.
- Working out.
- Cook a nice homemade meal.
- Call a friend or family member.
- Go for a walk in nature.
You see, if you stay busy doing things that benefit you, you’ll have no reason to feel melancholy.
If you start to feel even a bit anxious or irritable, go and do something
This is my go-to strategy to protect my mental health. And I can’t think of a single occasion when it’s let me down.
The reason this is so effective is that most of the feelings of melancholy, anxiety, and depression are caused by overthinking and result in the mind caving in on itself, so to speak. But when we become immersed in activities that benefit us, we remove all temptation to indulge melancholic thoughts and feelings. Essentially, we’re able to subdue them in a healthy way. And if you practice doing this long enough, then melancholic feelings will be nothing more than a fleeting feeling that you never indulge.
Anyway, this is what helps me.
I hope you can take something away from it.
Humans are meant to do stuff
I remember reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and he would frequently remind himself that nature, i.e., the ants, the bees, etc., are busy putting the world in order, but humans struggle to even get out of bed.
As a rule of thumb, the more you do, the more alive you will feel. And the more idle you are, the more dead you will feel. Because to me, that’s what too much leisure feels like.
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