Axioms
I spoke to my friend Charles today.
I wasn’t feeling well and he reached out to me to check in; he’s a wonderful friend.
While talking, he tried to have me describe the worst possible outcome of my current situation.
In a moment of reflection I realized that “None of them are catastrophic, they just feel bad.”
He looked at me puzzled and unsure what I meant.
I next described how at times I felt as though my first axiom, that of hope, leaves me from time to time.
He asked me befuddled: “Wait. If this is an axiom, why are you questioning it? How does that work?”
In a moment of genuine care and confusion he hit the nail on its head.
An unspoken issue which has left me stumped whenever I hit an existential wall: if my negative emotion is irrational, how do I combat it? I can’t usually argue it? How do I think myself into having hope?
Generally speaking, I don’t think you can. My axioms are too theoretical. My axioms which are laid on faith are fickle; they can be argued against on a bad day and argued for on a good one. None are unshakeable —— even to me.
For all of these reasons, I present myself a new collection of axioms —— in particular, actionable axioms.
Axiom 1
Do.
To improve one’s situation something must be done. I must do. No mention of things being “okay” or “good” is needed; I must continue. I must hold up my heavens. I must withstand. I must do.