My life has been full…

“My life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened.”

Michel de Montaigne

There are a few famous versions of this expression throughout the history of humankind. About 2000 years ago, Seneca’s version from his thirteenth letter “On Groundless Fears” stated that “we suffer more often in imagination than in reality”. More recently Mark Twain quipped, “I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened”. But the sixteenth century rendition by Michel above combines both a delicate sense of humor with a layer of sensibility. The truth of the matter is that our imagination can run away from us if left to obsess unchecked. Hopefully, you’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy a life with minimal dread and have a reality far better than anything your mind might have conjured.