Coffee notes

Earlier this week I received the first feedback report on the house and potential buyers.

At first I was a little depressed about it, reading the negative comments such as the whole deck will need replacing, there is so much work to do, It's going to cost allot etc. Of course buyers are always looking for a deal and will try to look for anything to bring the price down.

As said at first I was a little depressed, as I know the house is not in the best shape and it does need work, and that in it's self depresses me too.

So sitting there feeling depressed and also embarrassed about the condition of the house, I remembered a Stoic saying by Epictetus.

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own…” — Epictetus, Discourses, 2.5.4–5

Basically 'Choose not to worry about things not in your control' and that is exactly what I did and it actually works. Once you have confirmed that it is not in your control, it is like a weight has lifted and that feeling of depression has gone.

If the deck needs replacing so be it and good luck, If the driveway needs surfacing go right a head! that's not my problem.

Thanks Epictetus!