As an optimistic person, exposure to literature with existential flavor has often upset me. Yeah, Miss Ice Queen, who knows don’t-react-to-what-you-can’t-control, still admits it. Whether it’s been Kafka’s poems, Camus’ The Stranger, the ending of The Awakening, the story of Babel, or some good ol’ Nietsche – my knee-jerk reaction to any text/character suggesting that nothing matters – ever, or anymore – has historically been one of deep violation. It should come as no surprise then, that the first time I read about hope in a negative way, via The Daily Stoic, it rattled me. To be super clear, here’s that exact passage:
“Hecato says, ‘cease to hope and you will cease to fear.’ … The primary cause of both these ills is that instead of adapting ourselves to present circumstances we send our thoughts too far ahead.”
– Seneca, Moral Letters, 5.7b-9
Hope as an ill? Really? I’d been told all my life that hope was a good thing! Maybe you had, too. Well, adding salt to the wound, it was when I read Margaret Wheatley caution against “the ambush of hope,” that I realized I might need to reconsider my understanding of it (and its subsequent utility). After some uncomfortable introspection, what I arrived at was this: hope, unbacked by action, effectively serves no one.
Similar to how we’ve reconceptualized anxiety before, the intent of this post is to encourage you to reconsider the functionality of hope; specifically, how you express it. Does it live in words alone, or is it coupled with present time engagement? Just as you might have heard the expression before, the best defense is offense, consider how the best version of hope might not be hope after all..
7/21/20 WOD
DEUCE ATHLETICS GPP
[Meet at Anderson Park]
DEUCE BACKLOT GPP
[Meet at Pan Pacific Park]
DEUCE GARAGE GPP
10-10-8-8
Tempo Push Press
Complete 4 rounds for quality:
8 Pendlay Rows
15 DB Triceps Series
15-18 Hollow Rocks
Then, complete 6 rounds for reps of:
In :60..
12 Alt DB Snatches (60/40)
Max Slam Balls
-Rest :60-
** Athletes record lowest round score