| It must have been quite a shock for him. The introverted boy, the lover of books, the philosopher—suddenly finding himself the emperor of Rome. He's famous. He's powerful. He's loved. He's hated. He's besieged with requests. How did Marcus Aurelius handle it? "Living on a lighted stage/ Approaches the unreal," the band Rush sings on their classic song, "Limelight," "For those who think and feel." Some are attracted to that limelight, crave the attention, feel at home in it. That would not have been Marcus. It would have been surreal, unnatural, like a cage for him. But you know what he did? He did what a Stoic does, what we all have to do in life. He adjusted. He figured it out. He found solace and strength in his own soul. He found practices that helped him (clearly journaling was one). He got advice (as it happens you can read all that Antoninus told him at the beginning of Meditations). He got on with doing the job assigned to him. That's what Rush figured out too, as they wrestled with their own fame. As they say in the song: Those who wish to be, must put aside the alienation Get on with the fascination The real relation, the underlying theme It's weird. It's unnatural. It's not how you'd like things to be. But so what? Welcome to life. Welcome to all different types of things in life, not just fame. You gotta figure out what you like about it. You gotta figure out what's interesting about it, what's possible with it. And then you gotta get to work. That's the job.
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