Mitch McConnell and the Last Crusade | Healthy Aging Series: S11 E7
Do you ever feel like you’ve lost your way?
I was hiking in the Jefferson Memorial Forest a number of years ago. My favorite trail was the Mitch McConnell Trail (MMT).
I know, I know everyone hates him. The right and the left equally hate him. Maybe hate is too strong of a word.
But he’s done a lot for Jefferson County. He was the Judge Executive from 1977 to 1984. If you go to the Jefferson Memorial Forest Visitor Center, you’ll see a plaque commemorating Mitch McConnell and other commissioners for their efforts to nearly double the size of the Jefferson forest.
So, I guess that’s why they named the trail after him.
About ten years ago, without warning, the Parks and Recs Department closed the trail, completely redesigned it and changed the name to Yellow Trail.
I loved the Mitch McConnell Trail. It was 6 miles of hills. There might’ve been a quarter mile stretch that was flat but for the rest of the trail you were either going up or going down a hill.
A very challenging trail so….
Getting Lost on the MMT
On one cool Saturday morning, I attempted to navigate the new and the old system. I stopped somewhere in the middle of the Paul Yost section of the Jefferson Memorial Forest, and realized I did not know where I was. I was lost. I’ve done some orienteering over the years and it is really, really important to know where you are in order to be able to find your way to where you want to be.
So, I cheated a little and pulled out my Garmin GPS and it told me where I was and it navigated me to the Coral Ridge Trail and then back to the trailhead.
Being lost was a little disorienting, but I didn’t panic. Of course I knew I could just keep walking and eventually cross a trail, or eventually run into another hiker, maybe.
I’d be a little late for my lunch date with my wife. I had my phone, which has GPS, and a compass, so I really wasn’t lost in the “lost in the wilderness,” or “eating wild berries” kind of lost, but I felt lost.
Feeling Lost in Today’s World
I think people feel a little lost in today’s world. Not in the Mitch-McConnell Trail way, but people feel unsettled.
Politics, religion, health issues, work insecurities, retirement, and toxic family relationships and painful friendships. All of these are pulling us in so many different directions. We are being assaulted every day with reels, headlines, and new research that contradicts almost everything you thought you knew. Crazy health fads, road-rage-turned shooting, political one-upmanship, and yes, polarized friendships.
All of these are intersecting the old and the new systems, all pointing in a different direction, and all giving you the sense that you’re lost and you don’t know where you are anymore.
What if I told you that there was a school of thought, a philosophy, a way of life that could help you navigate the complicated landscape of the 21st-century.
Not a religion. You can keep whatever faith you follow. This map would overlay on your faith map.
Like taking the new Yellow Trail, and the Mitch McConnell trail, and overlaying them. Seeing all the intersections, seeing where the Yellow Trail becomes the Coral Ridge Trail.
Stoicism as a New Map for Your Life
Stoicism is a way of life that you can superimpose on your life, over your day-to-day frustrations and struggles.
Stoicism, if practiced, can bring about a peaceful, calm state, without traffic noise, and visceral anxiety.
Think of stoicism as a trail map. The destination is a place called Tranquility. I recently wrote my New Year’s episode about Tranquility.
We are going on that trail this season. I’ll be sharing eight more episodes on Stoicism spread out throughout the season that I’m calling Aging with an Attitude.
What is stoicism?
As a therapist, I see it as a sibling or close twin to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. And in that sense, Stoicism is changing the way you think about things, about life.
I’m going to share from some important books, some by the original Stoics, and some by modern Stoics. One of the primary books will be, A Guide to the Good Life, The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, by William Irvine.
I encourage you to purchase his book and follow along. I’ll also share letters and writings from Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. Those are the three Stoics we have writings from that have survived.
I love reading their stuff.
So, what will we be looking at, what are the Stoic Practices?
Remember, what you practice grows stronger!
A Guide to the Good Life, by William Irvine
If you look at Irvine’s Table of Contents, it will give you a clue:
1. Negative Visualization. This is a practice that will train you to appreciate and value what you have.
2. Dichotomy of Control. This is the practice that will train you to understand what you can and cannot control in your life.
3. Fatalism. This practice will train you to value the present and let go of the past.
4. Self-Denial. This practice trains us to value a life of austerity.
5. Meditation. This practice trains us to value self-reflection and the need for growth.
6. Friendship. We will look at the practice of healthy friendships.
We will also look at the strategies for handling criticism, and finally, we will look at negative emotions like anger, grief, envy, and jealousy.
If you’re feeling a little lost, I invite you to pick up Irvine’s book and join us this season as we set out on a trail that leads to a place called Tranquility.
So, (Spoiler Alert) Mitch McConnell picks the right Chalice, and uses it to heal the wounds that were caused by the over-zealous Nazi-Archeologist, and then he rides off as the hero of the story. Cue the Music.
