Life Won't Get Easier

You’ve told yourself this, haven’t you?

“Once I find the right partner…

Once I land that client…

Once I hit that income goal…

Then I’ll finally be okay.”

But you’re not.

You never are.

Because the problems never stop…

They just change forms.

You go from loneliness of not having a girlfriend… to jealousy from being with a hot blonde.

From not being able to go for a coffee every day… to being afraid of losing your investments.

From how to quit smoking… to how to deal with cancer.

As I write in my upcoming book, Resist and Persist, even Odysseus—the Greek hero—faced problem after problem after winning the war.

Cyclops ate half of his men. Witch Circe turned some of his men into pigs. Scylla turned his ship into a massacre scene. And the Greek goddess Kalypso kept him imprisoned for 7 years on her island.

Odysseus found a way to return home.

Only to realize his wife was prosecuted by 40+ men who believed Odysseus was dead and wanted to f*ck her… sorry, marry her.

You’d think the gods would give Odysseus a break. They didn’t. Life didn’t.

And they won’t for you either.

Remember Marcus Aurelius’ words?

Stoicism doesn’t promise an easy life.

It promises a strong one.

When you stop wishing for a life without problems, you free yourself from a prison most people never escape.

So what do you do?

You choose the problems you want to have.

You pick your pain.

Either the pain of working for someone else's dream, or the pain of building your own.

Either the discomfort of loneliness, or the discomfort of honesty and vulnerability in a real relationship.

Either the pain of regret from living a life of comfort, or the pain of working hard towards something meaningful.

Problems are the price of being alive.

But suffering?

That’s optional.

So stop asking when life will get easier. Ask instead:

Which battles am I proud to fight?

Once you answer that, you stop running.

You stop fantasizing.

And you finally start living like a Stoic.

See you tomorrow,

Ioannis

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P.S. I know you haven’t read Stoicism in a while. As a home exercise, read a few words from your favorite Stoic book. If you feel like it, email me what you read and why it resonated with you.