Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a stoic-inspired meditation

designed to help you find strength and insight and wisdom into everyday life.

Each one of these episodes is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of

history's greatest men and women to help you learn from them, to follow in their example,

and to start your day off with a little dose of courage and discipline and justice and wisdom.

For more, visitdailystoic.com.

Just put it on my tab.

Life was just one thing after another for Marcus Aurelius, the plague, the flooding, the wars.

He did not meet with the good fortune he deserved, one ancient historian noted, as his whole reign was a series of troubles.

Anyone who has had a run of bad luck knows the feeling. It's frustrating and annoying and sometimes deeply unfair. But there's also something

freeing about it, because after a certain point, you stop fighting and start accepting. We can imagine

Marcus after the 50th piece of bad news just saying, all right, put it on my tab. What was one more thing

at that point? What did it even matter? He knew there was no use resenting, no use wishing it was

otherwise, no escaping, no denying, just had to add it to the list. He had to accept it was pouring

and he was in for a long wet night. He had to focus on a plan for what was to come next.

It would do us good to borrow

this attitude, particularly lately. We've had our own plague, civil unrest, wars, economic downturns.

And on top of this, our own personal issues, perhaps a divorce, young children, trouble at work,

an injury, or a diagnosis. While we should never accept injustice or give up hope, we do need to accept that it's

time to buckle up. It's not going to be an easy ride. The bill is not going to be cheap. Somebody is

going to have to pay it. And like Marcus Aurelius, in our own lives, that person is us. So tell

them to put it on your tab and start getting to work on it.

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