Seneca — We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.
We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.Seneca
Seneca, 'Letters to Lucilius' 13
Most of our dread never arrives. The mind rehearses disasters in vivid detail, and we pay the emotional cost again and again for events that mostly never happen.
Nervous about speaking English aloud? Notice how the imagined embarrassment dwarfs the real moment. Reality is almost always kinder, and quicker to pass, than the version fear scripts in advance.
Words that widen the world
The ability to form ideas or images in the mind.
Synonyms: fantasy, invention, vision
Her fear lived only in her imagination.
The state of things as they actually are.
Synonyms: actuality, fact, truth
In reality, the conversation went perfectly well.
Common questions
He means we cause ourselves more pain by worrying about imagined troubles than from troubles that actually occur.
When anxiety spikes, ask what is actually happening right now versus what you're imagining — the gap is usually large.
Carry it with you
In your own words, what does this thought mean to you? Write three or four sentences in English about a moment when it felt true — saying it yourself is how it stays with you.
Read more from Seneca
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