| It can be easy to forget it in the depths of winter or the doldrums of summer or in the middle of an interminable divorce or during a stressful long-term project. You know, when it feels like forever, when it feels like things will never change—you lose track, you get consumed, you feel dejected, you start to give up. "January ain't the whole world," Bon Iver sings in the song "Short Story." He's saying that winter doesn't last forever—no season does. (It's also worth pointing out that January isn't winter for the whole world, either). But again, this is easy to forget when the news is dark or everything is going poorly at work. You can start to think it will always be this way…or that it is this way for everyone…or that it's going to get worse. Your child is sick, Marcus Aurelius reminds himself in Meditations. Leave it there, he says, you don't have to tell yourself they might die from it. Extrapolation, we have to understand, is the enemy. January is January. August is August. A slump is a slump. They're not fun, but neither are they the whole world…or forever. "Remember that this moment is not your life," goes one of the most quoted lines in The Obstacle is the Way, "it's just a moment in your life."
| —This newsletter is brought to you by BetterHelp Marcus Aurelius kept a journal. Today, we have therapists. Both are tools for examining your thoughts, questioning your reactions, and responding to life with intention instead of impulse. BetterHelp makes thoughtful, disciplined self-examination accessible by connecting you with a licensed therapist online—on your schedule, from anywhere. Learn to meet life with steadiness instead of stress. Get 20% off your first month! |
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