Ego´s cure💉

Stone-cold politics

Whenever we think about politicians, I very much doubt qualities such as modesty, humbleness and plain are the first things that come to mind, yet Angela Merkel seems to be an anthitesis of what modern politics has become.

If there was a single word for which to describe Angela Merkel it would definitely be sober, and in todays world, it’s quite a skill considering most if not all leaders are intoxicated with ego and power.

And it’s due to this sobriety and self-control that she’s been able to become a sweeping force of freedom in Europe as well as serving three wildly-popular terms.

But contrary to popular belief, this sobriety wasn’t given upon birth, but rather build through character, discipline, and proper self-control.

As claimed by those close to her, Angela was a pretty analytical individual since her early days.

There’s even a short story about Angela as a kid in which she found herself in the midst of a swimming lesson.

As she walked out towrds the diving board, she stood there pondering about whether to jump or not.

Minutes went by without a single movement, and as soon as the bell marking the end of the lesson began ro rang…she jumped.

Why did she took so long…?

Years later, while being part of an urgent and tremendously important meeting with Europe’s leaders, she reminded them that…

Fear is a bad advisor. And so is eagerness.

As a kid, Angela knew that in order to make a right decision, one must not be driven by recklessness or fear, thus from there on she would use every alloted second before making a choice.

Slow and steady

After standing for nearly 30 years and stopping mass emigration as well as becoming a symbol of the ideological conflict between the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc and the Western democracies, on November 9th 1989 the Berlin Wall finally collapsed officially marking the end of the Cold War.

The fall of the Wall marked a crucial event in world history and brought joy to millions throughout the world.

Many sought to celebrate, and rightfully so, as the war had finally finished and all the suffering and death along with it, people went out drinking as a wave of joy was felt through Germany and neighboring coutnries, yet there were others who knew regardless of what just happened, that tomorrow was still work-day and one can’t avoid responsibilities.

A young Angela Merkel went out, had a single bear, and immediately went back home as she knew tomorrow she had to wake up early to get to work.

A few years later she became a highly skilled yet obscure physicist, only then did she entered politics.

And it was only until her fiftees that she became a Chancellor.

It was a diligent, plodding path.

Merkel is the embodiment of Aesop’s fable about the tortoise.

She’s slow but steady.

From the beginning she knew that any sort of success required not only dedication, but above all, it demanded time.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and she would take as long as she had to, in order to make the changes she wanted.

For most, this type of behavior may seem unnatural, even impossible. We´ve grown to become an impacient specie, geting high on getting high on the ranks.

Worst of all, once we make it, we tend to believe that it´s ego and energy who brought us here.

During her rise to power and especially during her time at it, she maintianed her clear-headedness, regardless of the stimuli.

Everybody knew she was willing to compromise on anything, except the principle at stake.

That is sobriety. That it command of oneself. - Ryan Holiday

Sobriety is the ultimate counterweight to balance out success. Without it, we’re doomed.

The Golden-Mean

So you’ve made it. You’ve achieved success of some sort.

You’ve made it to the top and only now you’ve come to a sudden realization…

It never got easy. In fact, it only got harder.

Not only that. You realized that in order to maintian success, you must first manage yourself.

And I’m pretty sure you’ve already realized, you’re not an easy person to manage…

Greek philosopher and polymath Aristotle, understood the worlds of ego and power, probably more clearly than any other.

And he tried as much as he could, to teach the world about it. Even his most famous pupil, Alexander the Great.

You know… that king of Macedonia who became history’s most successful military comander responsible of basically conquering the entire known world.

Yet, balance is a concept so easy to grasp but so arduous to live by, that even his greatest pupil failed the ultimate test.

That’s probably the reason why Alexander the Great died at the young age of thirty-two, far away from home, and probably by the hands of his own men.

The concept he failed to grasp was what Aristotle called the "Golden Mean”.

A concept that suggests that virtue lies between two extremes: excess and deficiency.

Just as:

• Courage lies between cowardice and recklessness

• Generosity lies between profligacy and parsimony

True virtue lies always in perfet balance.

Though, it’s really hard to find this balance isn’t it?

As author Ryan Holiday puts it:

But I believe there’s always signals. Road signs that we’re supposed to notice once we’re “going too far off the road”.

Just like our bodies get sick once we treat them poorly, there’s “symptoms” we can perceive when we behave wrongly.

And we must use this golden mean to navigate our ego.

Unfortunately, ego is a marvelous enemy, and what starts out as a well-intended journey, ends up in an empty pursuit of fame and plaudit-seeking.

And it’s in the life of others who have publicly failed, that we can learn from to avoid making the same mistake.

Such is the story if American busines magnate Howard Hughes.

Even though he was publicly known to have a life full of endeavors and adventures one could barely dream off, he knew he had pushed his limits to far and what seemed to be a life filled with joy was actually the opposite.

From the outside, we could only see the business magnate who was renowned for his achievements in aviation and film industry ventures as well as his publicly-known adventurous spirit, but according to one of his closest friends, Howard held a life filled with stress, hollow pursuits and short-lived happiness.

When he was near death, one of his aides sought to reassure a suffering Howard.

"What an incredible life you have led” - he said

Howard replied:

“If you had ever swapped places in life with me, I would be willing to bet that you would have demanded to swap back before the passage of the first week.”

So what can we do.

We must learn to schew greed, to seek sobriety, to be humble in our success, and wise with our failures.

Because reversals and regressions are part of life and there’s no point in avoiding them.