Marcus wrote that the mind adapts what blocks its path into fuel for the path itself, the way a fire takes whatever you throw on it and burns brighter. The obstacle in front of you, the delay, the no, the setback, is not separate from your life; it is the material your life is asking you to work with today. You do not have to be glad it is there. But you can ask the more useful question: what does this make possible, or what can I learn here that the easy road would never have taught me? Sometimes the blocked way forces a better one. The thing in your path is not always in your way. Often it is the way.

Inspired by the old idea of amor fati. Written by Ugo Charles.