News Flash: you are not cooler than me :)
Guess what else, though? I am also not cooler than you :) Feel seen by your own eyes. That is what matters; that is enough. Anything else is extra, excessive, and extraneous. In a way, build blinders for your lane. Drive your own life with your own focus on what is best for you. Should you really rely on others to tell you? I do not think so. So, I sugjest finding quiet stillness to listen to your inner child. They know what is truly best for you. Your inner child can and should serve as your personal litmus test, too. Just because you can do something does not mean you should. I can do many things tonight, but I choose to work on what is best for me and my lane. That is how you begin to build temperance.
There are no better cosmetics than a severe temperance and purity, modesty and humility, a gracious temper and calmness of spirit; and there is no true beauty without the signatures of these graces in the very countenance.
-Arthur Helps
Building upon the weather reference from last post fits well here because temper can be crucial towards cultivating temperance. Like temperature, you should respond to your temper accordingly. Bathing suits are not appropriate at all times, and suits will not suit you in all situations. Similarly, your temperament should adjust fluidly. How well can a person move through life if they are only ever sad, angry, or happy, for example? Each and every emotion has its time and place. There is a reason for every season. If you do not respond to external factors well, you will struggle. Balancing and reading your own internal barometer allows you to gauge and forecast what the next best thing is for you.
The ingredients of health and long life are great temperance, open air, easy labor, and little care.
-Philip Sidney
Install insightful and intuitive instrumentation internally to investigate your personal weather patterns. In calm and smooth conditions, you can charge ahead with more of a carefree nonchalance. When storm clouds are on the horizon, you know to slow your pace or hunker down in a stronghold to patiently wait out and outlast any downpours of depression or high winds of unexpected change. All of these events can appear on your radar throughout your life. Are you monitoring that radar? Have you even built one yet? Temperance tames and tempers the tempests. Find the flow of your lane and follow along. We can dance in the rain, but we should also stay mindful of any nearby lightning or tornados. Temperance tangos to the tempo as we thread through torrid torrents.
Maybe it is wise. Maybe it is dumb. Time will tell.