Don’t seek fame

Marcus Aurelius may have been emperor, but he was a person of great nobility and modesty:

“Well, then, shall mere glory distract you?
Look at the swiftness of the oblivion of all men; the gulf of endless time, behind and before; the hollowness of applause, the fickleness and folly of those who seem to speak well of you, and the narrow room in which it is confined. This should make you pause.
For the entire earth is a point in space, and how small a corner thereof is this your dwelling place, and how few and how paltry those who will sing your praises here!” ¹

In the same spirit of objectivity, he continues:

“Near at hand is your forgetting all; near, too, all forgetting you.” ²

And even further on in his Meditations:

“A little while and you will be nobody and nowhere, nor will anything which you now behold exist, nor one of those who are now alive.” ³

Honours,
fame,
praise.
So many validations that your soul is waiting for to feel valid and worthy of existence. Unconsciously. When someone mentions your first name, followed by a sign of recognition, congratulations or even respect, you feel good, don't you?

That is part of human relationships and social interaction.

But don't seek validation for your actions or thoughts from others.

If you let yourself be fooled by the pleasant feeling of being appreciated, you put your self-esteem in their hands. Only you can value yourself. Only you know your own worth and can judge whether you're worthy of recognition or not.

Furthermore, expecting the approval of others means that you are dependent on something that is outside of you, that does not depend on you. And {{username}}, as you know, is like putting your welfare in someone else's hands, whereas according to our Stoic thinking, that welfare should depend only on what you control: your actions and your thoughts.

You only have to look within yourself for this recognition and not wait for someone else to give it to you.

Be proud of the fact that you have worked so hard to achieve something. Only when you feel that you have done your best can you feel worthy of recognition, because only you know the efforts you have made, only you know the difficulties you have had to overcome.

Fame does not matter if you are inwardly happy about this feeling of achievement. An achievement that is free of any vanity. Simply knowing that you did the best you could. Whether you have achieved an important position in your professional life, whether your partner is attractive and seductive, whether your bank account is full of zeros, whether you have won an award that proves your intelligence, whether you have visited places that no one can recognise on a map - you should not sell yourself with any these things, should not seek the admiring or - even worse - envious glances of those who cross your path, whether they are lifelong friends or one-night encounters.

Consider what you have achieved in its simplest form,
free from any value judgment.

Are you rich? Good! Stay humble.
Do you look good? Good! Stay humble.
Are you smart? Good! Stay humble.
Are you happy? Good! Stay humble.

What you have today may be gone tomorrow. Don't feed that feeling of superiority, which is just an illusion.

Look up, others have achieved much more than you.
Look down, others know happiness much better than you, without all the bells and whistles.