The Stoics didn't ask you to enjoy suffering, but to see that the difficult parts belong to a life just as the smooth parts do. Marcus wrote that nature brings each thing in its season, and what the whole brings to you fits you, even when you can't see how. A hard stretch isn't a detour off your real life; it is your real life, this season of it. Fighting that fact adds weight to weight. Letting it belong, while still doing what you can, lightens the load a little. You don't have to call it good. You only have to stop treating it as a mistake that shouldn't be happening to you.

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