Before, you were scared. Before, you were soft. Before, you were dependent. Before, you were so many things.
But after? After the breakup, after the bankruptcy, after the pandemic, after those rough couple years? Now, you're capable of so much more. You're stronger. You're braver. You're more independent. Did you pick up a couple scars along the way? Was it painful and exhausting? Sure, of course…and you never would have chosen to go through it. But you did, and now you're better for it.
Seneca had pity for people who'd never gone through things. It is good, he said, that we have been knocked around and bruised and bloodied in the ring. It's taught us what we're capable of. It's made us capable of more.
So next time you're going through something hard, next time you feel like you've been beaten down, remember: this is where strength comes from. This is how we grow. This is how we become more than we were before.
You're not just enduring—you're becoming.
P.S. "A blazing fire," Marcus Aurelius wrote, "makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it."
Grab your own medallion to carry as a reminder that obstacles and adversity, like oxygen to a flame, can fuel your potential when they are embraced, not avoided.
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