the benefits of staying in place/focus

as i’m reading this book of letters from seneca, i’ve realized some things. 

1. there is so much good and simple stuff here that i could write a post per letter (sometimes more). 
2. there are recurring themes and that it might serve me to wrap thematic insights together. 
3. while the stuff in here is good, i really want to get back to reading more strategy stuff (even though i’m increasingly understanding how important internal personal work is for strategy) and also more work by people in oppressed groups (black, indigenous, queer & trans, women, colonized, etc.).
   

all that aside, this post is about two letters that all discuss the importance of staying in place and focusing.

the first, letter ii, is about focusing. on developing strong friendships and how “people who spend their whole life travelling abroad end up having plenty of places where they can find hospitality but no real friendships” and how reading a single author to learn deeply is more important than reading one book by everyone and learning broadly.

the second, letter xxviii, is also about how traveling doesn’t necessarily solve one’s woes. it basically says that sometimes people who want to travel think it will be a cure for their discontent, but what they’re actually running from is internal. once one figures out how to deal with one’s internal problems, traveling is nice but everything needed can be found wherever you are.

all of those points are basically made without saying much more, but it definitely is adding fuel to my “stay in boston” fire.

ps - so great that i found all seneca’s letters online!

writing: 11:50
spell-check, link-finding, & formatting: 5:42