Why You Should Embrace the Emerson Way of Self-Reliance
Total immersion is what enables passion and wellbeing, even in the most mundane of tasks.
In high school, I was tasked with finding lines for my senior quotes in the yearbook and felt completely lost. I borrowed a giant book of quotes from the library, began paging through it and kept coming back to a section by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Everything he wrote spoke to me and hit a note. I became fascinated with his essays and remain so to this day.
For the uninformed, Emerson was a Harvard educated philosopher, writer, and abolitionist from the 19th century who made a tremendous impact on culture in the United States. Friedrich Nietzsche even said he was, “The most gifted of the Americans.”
But specifically, his way of approaching life carries tremendous utility. This is how my life has been impacted, and how scientific research, and Emerson’s own words have aligned for a great path forward.
The power of self-sufficiency
When I was young, I dreaded doing chores and homework like clockwork each night. And, because my dad was a SEAL, making the bed was an especially big deal, and demanded perfection. Minor wrinkles and loose edges mandated a redo.
