For the Stoics, the only true good was a good character: fairness, courage, honesty, kindness. Everything else, money, status, even health, was preferred but not the real prize, because it can all be taken away. This sounds severe until you feel the relief in it. It means your worth doesn't rise and fall with your bank balance or your job title. The part of you that matters most is the part no one can repossess. You can still pursue a good life with comforts in it. Just don't hang your whole sense of self on things that come and go. Today, measure one decision by whether it was kind or honest, not by what it gained you.

Inspired by the old idea of virtue as the only good. Written by Ugo Charles.