CI. You Hold the Power

You were not born to die ordinary.

P.S: Most of you loved the previous entries on How To Deal With Toxic People & How To Negotiate.

---

Place Vendome sous la pluie by Edouard Cortès

“Be a boxer, not a gladiator, in the way you act on your principles. The gladiator takes up his sword only to put it down again, but the boxer is never without his fist and only has to clinch it.”―Marcus Aurelius

Calm down.

Really.

Ignore the doubts in your head. Ignore the excuses. Strip yourself down to the raw, unfiltered moment.

Feel everything—all of it. The sting of betrayal, the crushing weight of disappointment, the gnawing temptation to take the easy way out, the pressure of responsibility. The itch for escape. The boredom gnawing at your mind. The slow burn in your legs, the fire in your lungs as you grind through another rep, another mile, another hour of discipline.

Don’t turn away from any of it. Sit with it. Look it dead in the eye. Let it settle into your sigh, and then—relax into it. Make yourself at home.

Because here's the truth: nothing is coming to save you from this unideal moment. No divine hand will pluck you from discomfort. No cosmic force will soothe your pain. Friends might comfort you. But ultimately there is only you—your will, your love, your discipline, your ability to decide what this moment means. And if you truly understand what's at stake, you'll see it clearly: power, competence, and strength wait on the other side of this test. They are the prize for your admirable endurance.

These are not optional. They are the pillars of a good life, the foundations of eudaemonia—the flourishing and fulfilling existence that every great mind has pointed to as the highest good. And if you're serious about that kind of life, then you must make one thing clear to yourself, right no, that nothing comes before virtue. Nothing.

Not comfort.

Not pleasure.

Not money.

Not even happiness.

If you fail to see this, you will spend your days chasing empty pleasures, complaining about hardship, resenting responsibility. You will remain blind to the fact that every challenge is an invitation to greatness. You will waste your years longing for an easier world instead of conquering the one you’re in. Yet,,

“You cannot lose another life than the one you're living now, or live another one than the one you're losing." — Marcus Aurelius

You think the world is too hard? Too cruel? That life should go easier on you?

Well, unfortunately the world doesn’t care. It’s indifferent to weakness. It does not pause for hesitation, it does not lower its difficulty settings, and it will not hold your hand.

So be strong. Because you are the only person who will ever truly have yourself, and you better be capable of carrying that weight. Be powerful—because power is not a selfish pursuit; it’s also what allows you to protect and uplift those you love. And most of all, stay sovereign—because you were not born to be ruled by impulse, by weakness, by the tides of external circumstance.

You were not born to die ordinary.

Epictetus said it best:

"You are no longer a boy, but a full-grown man. If you are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself, you will not notice that you are making no progress, but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary."

And that? That should terrify you.

So ask yourself—what tools did nature place in your hands? What resources do you already possess to master this moment?

Patience—to bear pain without losing hope, humor & confidence.

Self-control—to resist temptation, to indulge pleasure with moderation, to guide your desires to aim at the highest good, virtue.

Courage—to face risk, conflict, failure & fear with a great spirit and to fight against injustice.

Justice—to do what is right, to treat people with kindness, to judge people fairly and take the hard but necessary steps without degrading your character.

Wisdom—to think far ahead, make good decisions and prepare the worst, to act on what’s within your control, to handle preferred indifferents like wealth well, and to love and convert bad experiences to your benefit.

These are your weapons. They have been passed down to you by universal nature, the gods, God.

And when you understand this, when you accept this power, you will see what Marcus Aurelius meant when he wrote,

"Why is this so unbearable? Why can't I endure it?" You'll be embarrassed to answer."

What excuse do you have for not enduring?

Say it out loud.

What’s your excuse?

…

Exactly.

Now get up. Remember who you are. Dust yourself. Keep your chin up. Get after it.

For the greatest pain is knowing that you didn’t have to degrade yourself and lose your self-esteem for anything, that you didn’t have to sell yourself short and beg, that you could have stepped closer to your goal but you let indulging weakness get the best of you—for nothing in return, that you lost something good for a fleeting indulgence, that you didn’t have to sell your soul for pennies only lose everything in the long run, that you could have done more and reached a higher level but didn’t, because you settled for comfort, yet you could have handled the chaos and setbacks with grace—and leave unscathed like it never happened or emerged stronger, powerful or more competent than ever. “Your worst sin,” Dostoyevsky wrote, will be that, “you destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing.”

---

Did you like this entry?

I always enjoy hearing from you, and for you to hear from each other.

Please leave a like (❤️), tell me what you think (💬) in the comment section and share this post with someone so that more people can discover and benefit from it.

Support The Stoic Manual and access 180+ premium in-depth essays: lessons & mini-courses in the art of living, consolations for difficult times, relationship mini-courses, the wealth playbook, leadership skills, social skills and health tools for a virile and distinguished life. Annual/Patron members get a free copy of my book, ‘THE TOOLS’ + over 40,000 words of bonus content + a free copy of my next book dropping next year.

Join 62,800 other readers,