Today’s Daily Stoic writing prompt: Is my soul stronger than my body?

The associated meditation mentions Marcus Aurelius, whose soul remained strong even when his body began to fail.  I have mentioned this before, but another personally significant figure of this sort to me is, of course, Dmitri Shostakovich, whose whole life was periodically troubled with physical ailments, but particularly his last ten years.  Yet the man kept composing, even when he could barely hold the pen, even as he stared death in the face and was admittedly terrified.  The stereotypical view of him is that the Soviet system broke him.  It absolutely did not.  It made his will to find a way to do what he wanted as a composer, somehow even stronger. He picked his battles and did not fight those he was incapable of winning, but found a different way to do so than the obvious, head-on approach.   Because sometimes you win by simply staying alive.

At the same time, it’s important to keep the body safe from avoidable dangers if at all possible (Shostakovich, unfortunately, didn’t know about what smoking would eventually mean for him–because that’s what actually finally got him).  My soul may be in great shape, but the fact that it is tells me I am not immortal and that I still have things to do here on earth without frittering it away taking unnecessary risks.  So I’m happy for now in my comfy basement playing games remotely with friends and going out only for groceries.

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This update is going to be shorter than usual, as my Pathfinder session went longer than usual (5 1/2 hours of beating up on all kinds of sh*t, including a demon, will do that for you.)  I did managed to complete most of the hand finishing on my 30s suit, so the only things remaining are buttonholes and the hem in the skirt.  I decided to do all of the lining attachment manually, and boy, did the new dress form come in handy–it’s going to make such a difference in the overall fit.

I’ve also been having some issues with insomnia the last couple of weeks, with about 1 out of 3 nights experiencing delays in getting to sleep.  I’m starting taking melatonin (like my husband) and being very judicious about doing anything too thinky right before bed.  And since it’s 11 pm now, that also includes writing.   Because there are some interesting big thinkies going on right now that I’ve got to work out soon in writing…