Actor Alexander Ludwig On Getting Sober With Stoicism

One thing addicts trying to get sober quickly discover is just how resilient their addiction is. They quit booze and suddenly find themselves smoking a lot more pot. They quit pot, but now issues are popping up with eating or with sex. Or they get rid of all those bad habits, and realize for the first time that they have a temper or a procrastination issue or terrible anxiety.

The point is: For every action there is a reaction. The energy of one bad habit, once removed, emerges in the form of another.

But that’s what this philosophy is about. Remember, Seneca said that each day we should ask ourselves what bad habit we’ve curbed, what thing we’ve stopped. Maybe 24 hours is not the right form of measurement for you, maybe it’s a monthly thing. Or a yearly thing. If you live to be old, hey, maybe you’ll have finally gotten rid of most of your bad habits, and bad impulses.

Don’t despair. Just keep chugging away. We assemble our lives action by action, Marcus Aurelius said. No one can stop us from that. Cross one thing off after another. Take one step after the next.

You’re making progress. You’re getting better.

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Alexander Ludwig is a Canadian actor and country musician. He is most known for his starring and supporting roles in the History Channel series Vikings and the films Bad Boys for Life, Lone Survivor, The Hunger Games, and Race to Witch Mountain. He currently stars on the series Heels. He began his acting career in commercials at the age of nine and moved into movie work shortly thereafter. As a musician, Ludwig released his self-titled EP in 2021, and then his debut album Highway 99 in 2022 via BBR Music Group. Ludwig has also participated in competitive freestyle skiing.

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