"I've seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark, Rome is the light." - Marcus Aurelius, speaking at Rome Blockchain Week.

Web3 burnout is real.

Pressure points and tipping points are everywhere, raining down on our fragile minds like Layer 2 scaling solutions.

When clicking on a link can rob you of your life savings, obliterate everything you’ve worked for, you know it's bad.

But do you know what makes it worse?

You can see it. Forever.

Immutability has no empathy. No compassion.

It doesn't give a fuck about your feelings.

Add to the stress and emotional ruin of scam-bots the slow torture of Twitter, LinkedIn, personal brand building and the 24/7 culture that demands your presence, your input, your content and your storytelling.

Page views. Post views.

Analytics is an evil word.

Yes, web3 burnout is very real.

I’ve seen it break friends and gobble connections up.

I’ve smelt its rampant breath on my own neck.

Few are immune.

Stoicism can't save you. It isn't a magical panacea. But it is a philosophy you can use to give you perspective, to step back, to see web3 through the eyes of two thousands years of history.

These quotes won’t take away the pain of a badly programmed smart contract rampaging through your NFT collection and sending your Doodles to North Korea; they won’t make the anguish and anxiety the multitude of thought leaders impose on your imposter syndrome any less visceral; hell, they won’t even help you go viral.

But they might give you thinking space; a moment of clarity before you click that Discord link. They may give you a saucerful of compassion for the shillers and the thieves, courage to weather bear markets and the ancient wisdom to not chase the emptiness of vanity metrics.

So without further ado.

Let’s visit Ancient Rome.

The full spectrum of the human condition laid bare across the Colosseum floor.

Siamo in anticipo.

Marcus Aurelius Stoic Quotes To Survive… Uncertainty

Cryptocurrency is a riptide only the strongest can swim against. Most end-up out beyond the horizon in a bright yellow inflatable dinghy.

You can read every white paper and Reddit channel, decipher GitHub and play squash with Vitalik Buterin. You'll still going to drown in a sea of descending crosses.

Scams and rugs happen. Stablecoins tumble, NFT collections shrink, apes and animé don't always lead to five figures and a château in the Spanish sun.

You have power over your own mind, not outside events.

Marcus Aurelius Stoic Quotes To Survive… The Metaverse

The metaverse is the merging of the physical and the digital; a place of exuberance and freedom and content and gaming and community and culture and all of your soul mates running around temples of like-minded connection as Snoop Dogg waltzes endlessly around The Sandbox

But, Stoic web3 friends, not a replacement for real life, merely an addition.

To keep a semblance of balance and chase the wolves of burnout away, dwell on the beauty of life, take solace in nature.

Only don't dwell. Because it isn’t 1850. Who fucking dwells?

Instead, take your shoes off and run outside and hug a deer.

Climb a rock, swim under water, smell a flower, dance barefoot across burning the coals of an exploding volcano if you need such a thrill to feel alive.

Dance with the stars.

Then go back to Decentraland.

Marcus Aurelius Stoic Quotes To Survive… Crypto Twitter

The never ending conveyor belt of voices screaming about ascending triangles and descending oblongs, triple tops and death crosses. The rising wedge of complete uncertainty masquerading as a dead cert will cloud your judgement, confuse your otherwise analytical mind.

Remember more data means more information, but it also means more false information, more guess work, fiction, more opinion.

You miss 100% of the shit you don’t listen to.

Marcus Aurelius Stoic Quotes To Survive… Smart Contracts

Let’s get into the weeds of surviving the mental anguish of badly coded smart contracts. Stoicism is a mirror, it exposes rack and ruin and places it on the shoulders of personal interpretation.

I’ve lost thousands.

And it hurt.

Goddamn punk ass contract.

This Stoic quote didn't erase the feeling at the pit of my stomach.

However, It did take the edge off the sting.

And give perspective.

Marcus Aurelius Stoic Quotes To Survive… Education

Social media-shaped echo chambers.

Algorithms will imprison you within walls of total agreement.

They’ll never question you.

Or ask you to question yourself.

You need a multi-coloured soul, a rainbow of flavours.

Echo chambers are the preserve of the passive.

Be careful where you seek your knowledge.

Marcus Aurelius Stoic Quotes To Survive… Bear Markets

There is always a bear market racing towards you.

The future is volatile. I hope it will always be so, otherwise we we're all just playing a drab game of pin the tail on the donkey.

Strengthen your reason now, so you are ready when the future comes.

Stoic Quotes To Survive… Terrible NFTS

The anger mounts.

Who are these clowns prancing behind the promise of a DAO and a metaverse game?

Where is that airdrop the roadmap promised?

Did you really buy a blockchain based health tracker because you can't push yourself to run up a hill?

Here Marcus Aurelius is speaking about immutability on the blockchain. It is wise to remember when you click mint.

Stoic Quotes To Survive… FOMO

FOMO is nothing new. It’s part of the human condition. In ancient Rome FOMO was omnipresent.

Stoic Quotes To Survive… Not Taking Profits

Take the profits.

I’ll end as I started.

Web3 burnout is real.

If you’re suffering, or think you might be about to, reach out to someone.

If you suspect someone is suffering, speak to them.