The Stoics saw the body as something on loan, to be looked after but not obsessed over. Epictetus, who lived with a lame leg, neither worshipped his body nor neglected it. You can hold the same balance. Caring for yourself, moving, resting, eating something real, isn't vanity, and it isn't a chore you're failing at. It's tending the one vessel that carries you through your days. Some days that care looks like a walk, some days just a glass of water and an early night. You don't have to do it perfectly. You only have to treat your body as worth the basic kindness you'd give a friend.

Inspired by the old idea of virtue over the body. Written by Ugo Charles.