The Antidote to Despair

“When jarred, unavoidably, by circumstances, revert at once to yourself, and don’t lose the rhythm more than you can help. You’ll have a better grasp of the harmony if you keep on going back to it.” - Marcus Aurelius There are often days when life is just not so fun. Days when effort feels too much- yet not enough, when plans fail, when disappointment invades your heart and you feel that none of this is worth sustaining, that none of what you like is worth doing anymore. In these moments, it’s easy to believe you’ve lost your way, that perhaps you’ve become weak. But what rescues you is not a new worldview or a sudden revelation. It’s sober existence and returning. Returning to what works and has been working for millenia. The basics. The steady harmony of rational conduct. Marcus Aurelius found a way to remind himself of this concept. He wrote, “It stares you in the face. There’s no role is so well suited to philosophy as the one you ha…