Test Your Impressions

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 This week, I’ve been sitting with a heavy but powerful reminder from Epictetus: “You are an impression, not at all what you appear to be.” That line has echoed in my mind as I’ve wrestled with my own outlook—especially the tendency to assume the worst, to let cynicism guide my reactions, and to treat every negative feeling like it’s a fact set in stone. 

This episode is about learning to challenge that default setting. I reflect on how my thoughts, habits, and emotional reactions—those initial impressions—often feel like truth, but are frequently distorted by fear, insecurity, or old narratives. I’ve noticed how easy it is to cling to hopelessness, to accept misery as my baseline, and how those beliefs shape my experience far more than the events themselves. 

But Stoicism teaches us to pause. To ask, Is this in my control? Is this thought actually true—or just something I’ve accepted without inspection? I won’t pretend I’ve mastered this, but this week I tried to take a hard look at the judgments I’ve been carrying around—especially the ones that have been holding me back. 

In sharing my reflections, I’m not offering quick fixes or polished wisdom, but something real: the messy process of trying to break free from a mindset that’s no longer serving me. I talk about therapy, isolation, self-talk, and the fear of change—and also the quiet hope that maybe, just maybe, I don’t have to believe everything I think. 

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in your own story, convinced that things can’t get better, I invite you to test that impression. It might not be what it seems. And maybe, with patience and effort, we can learn to trust less in our fears—and more in our capacity to grow. 

Thank you for listening and joining me on my journey of self-discovery!

Mediations and Prompts influenced from The Daily Stoic Books

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