Epictetus said something startling: never say you've lost anything, only that you've given it back. The people we love were never possessions, only gifts on loan, like a traveler's room that was always going to be left behind. This sounds cold until you sit with it. Holding the people you love with open hands doesn't mean loving them less. It means loving them without the desperate grip that fear creates. You stop trying to control them into safety and simply cherish them while they're here. None of us gets to keep anything forever. Knowing that can make you bitter, or it can make every ordinary day with them feel like the gift it actually is.

Inspired by the old idea of things are given, not owned. Written by Ugo Charles.