When you are distressed by an external thing, it’s not the thing itself that troubles you, but only your judgement of it. A you can wipe this out at a moment’s notice.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.47
While I don’t have more to say about how acceptance is what empowers us to realize this truth, and to act upon it once realized, I do, however, have an example.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
He spent the majority of his early years preparing for the presidency by holding increasingly more influential positions in politics. Just before turning forty, he was diagnosed with polio, changing his life forever and potentially ending his career.
Polio was “the thing”.
What FDR made of that “thing” was a presidency that could be categorized as one of America’s greatest political triumphs.
What could we be making out of the things that trouble us, that could derail our plans, that steal our health? FDR made a presidency.
(See y’all tomorrow)