Pushkin

We all have bad days.

Our laptops die, our relationships fail, our bosses let us go.

I'll freely admit that I sometimes get weighed down by it all.

But all those bad events can make me feel like I'm a long way from my goal of being happier.

And that's when I try to think of James Stockdale, and a particularly bad day in his military

career.

It was September 9, 1965.

James was flying his jet low over North Vietnam.

Stockdale was hit by enemy 5 and had to eject.

As he parisued it down to Earth, he recognized that he was enjoying probably his final seconds

of freedom, and that the next 5 years, minimum, would be hell.

He was looking at beatings, torture, and a long imprisonment.

But his enemy soldiers on the ground took shots at the pilot, ripping his parachute.

Stockdale gave himself a bit of a pep talk.

He whispered, I'm entering the world of epic teedis.

Pteedis was born into slavery 2,000 years ago.

His Roman master permitted him to study an ancient philosophy called stoicism.

Eventually, epic teedis gained his freedom and became one of the most important stoic

philosophers in history.

His ideas about how to live a happier life have continued helping people long after his

death.

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