Cultivating Your Inner Citadel
On the Perception of Adversity and Our Will to Face it
“No man more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself.” — Seneca
When faced with adversity of any kind, be it an annoying colleague or something as serious as the loss of a loved one, the common reaction is some combination of anger, fear, disbelief, sorrow, confusion and helplessness.
We blame others or our environment for the misfortunes that befall us. But the only thing that really causes us pain and stands in our way is our own perception and approach to the problem.
This is one of the core observations of Stoic philosophy.
“It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous — even death is terrible only if we fear it.” — Epictetus
Ryan Holiday addresses this same notion in his book The Obstacle Is The Way, and develops the idea in a modern setting.
Rather than being stunned by obstacles and suffering from them, we can actually turn them into…
