Massimo Pigliucci

And the Stoics thought that friends, real friends, are so-called friends of virtue, the kind of friends that are okay telling you that you're doing something wrong if they do think that you're doing something wrong.

And you don't need a lot of them, but it's important to have at least one, to have that kind of person that you can go and have a drink and say, you know, I got this issue, what do you think?

Yeah, I've been doing it for years.

And if you know that there is a recurring issue, let's say anger, for instance, or frustration or whatever it is, then you just say, okay, how was I doing five years ago with this?

Or what kind of themes was I preoccupied with?

What kind of issues were bothering me 10 years ago as opposed to now?

And so it becomes also a way to keep track of progress.

Am I doing better on this thing?

Is it something that 10 years ago was bothering me a lot and now it's not because I've actually made progress?

And if not, then perhaps that's one thing that I need to focus on that I was not sufficiently aware of.

I've always been a little bit overweight since I was a kid.

In fact, arguably still am.

And so I struggle with that.

And initially, I struggle with that in an unhealthy way, I would say, which is kind of typical because you have pressure from your peers, even my own parents.

My parents brought me to a dietician when I was in middle school or something like that, which probably was way of an overreaction because the problem certainly was not

was not that dramatic.

But once you get into, you know, you observe the notion from others, including the people who love you, that there is an issue, that there is a problem, that you need really to work on it, then it becomes, it easily becomes an obsession and therefore not healthy.

So I struggle with that on and off, you know, so self-image.

Sometimes it got me into trouble in terms of relationships.

I just wouldn't know how to handle or wouldn't know how to pursue necessarily a friendship or a relationship because of my body image problem.