When you face hardship, remember that the thing itself is no misfortune at all. To endure it and prevail is good fortune. It could have happened to anyone. But not everyone could have remained unharmed by it
Nothing happens to anyone that they can’t endure.
People might obstruct our tasks and impede our actions, but they cant impede our intentions and dispositions. We can accommodate and adapt.
The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.
If you accept the obstacle and work with what you’re given, an alternative will present itself.
Nature takes every obstacle and impediment, and works around it. It turns it to its purposes and incorporates it into itself. In the same way, a rational being can turn each setback into raw material, and use it to achieve its goal.
It was the start of 2021, just another usual day. I drank soju with friends on New Year's Eve and had hotpot with family at Din Tai Fung, and a couple days after, I developed GERD, and my life completely changed.
I see GERD as a misfortune. One day I was fine, and the next I was struck by this incurable disease. It felt like a punishment that came out of nowhere, like being framed for a crime I did not commit. I always dream about going back to the past, when I was "normal". And this causes a lot of unhappiness.
AI Marcus Aurelius said in this podcast that to endure hardship and prevail is good fortune.
It's hard for me to accept that I have GERD. Christians say that God has a plan for everyone and my prayer will be answered at the right time, some days I feel like my messages to God are lost in the ether.
It's easy to say suffering builds endurance, and that I'm going to come out of this stronger than ever. But while you're going through that suffering, it's numbing to the brain and it's easy to succumb to what's easier, which is to continue wishing for things to be go back to the way it was, instead of accepting and acting.
It's going to take a lot of effort for sure, I mean no one said life was going to be easy. I think therapy can help me, to build mental endurance.