Quote of the Week...from Epictetus

If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.                      ---Epictetus

Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher, living within the Roman Empire during the early Christian era.  Earlier in his life he was a slave but was later freed and then banished to Greece.  Many of his sayings form the basis for the Stoic way of life that grew during that period, to the point when a later Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, embraced this philosophy.  I ran across the above quote of Epictetus and it struck me as being especially true and relevant to me.  Nobody likes to look clumsy and awkward in what they do, nor do they like to publicly make mistakes.  Yet if you're learning to do something new, then by necessity you're going to screw up a bit at whatever stage of it you are in, and come out of it looking a little "foolish and stupid" as the good philosopher pointed out.  Of course, the opposite is true: you're being wise and smart in stretching yourself with this new endeavor...as well as courageous and strong!  We were in a store in the Oaks Mall yesterday when we ran across an employee who I heard speak Russian...my first impulse was to keep my mouth shut, but then I thought, why not see how well she understands my speech?  I felt very silly even with the basic things I said to her, but she understood it all quite well: a good experience that would never have happened were I too afraid to step out of my comfort zone.  The truth is, though, that I probably could have been bolder about practicing my speech then, but I'm still a bit skittish about looking like the fool...which in itself is foolish...