Life Changes in an Instant
But that doesn't mean we cannot be prepared
“Life changes in the instant,” Joan Didion once wrote, “The ordinary instant.”
The Stoics were particular about keeping one foot in the present while looking ahead to anticipate what could become. While a Stoic works to stay present in their actions, one cannot completely neglect the future. As Marcus Aurelius once reminded himself, “When and if it comes [the future], you'll have the same resources to draw on - the same logos.”
By looking to what could be, we are able to cultivate strength and inner resiliency by being prepared to face the event. Life is filled with inevitable difficulties and challenges and we cannot always anticipate them--but we can try and anticipate some of them.
Seneca, writing to his brother on the topic of anger, once reminded him:
“Your greatest fear lies in the same place as your greatest joy. When everything seems serene, the dangers are still present, only sleeping. Always suppose that something offensive to you is going to arise.”
This is so often the truth, the future holds both fear and joy partly because it is completely unknown. There is a joyous existence to this, one that reminds us that the page is blank and we can write whatever we want on it. But the inverse is also fear, for what will be written?
But for a Stoic, the future is just the future and they learn to become comfortable with it because they are living in accordance with Nature. To the Stoic, this means living your life the way it was meant to be lived, using reason and working in harmony with the world around you. There is an acceptance about this, an understanding that you will not and cannot control everything. As Epictetus once said, there will be things outside of our control that we must learn to accept. But by doing so, we can turn our attention back to what we do have control over.
By controlling our thoughts and focusing on the future, we are better equipped to handle what comes next. By understanding the future has not yet arrived, we are better able to objectively review events that may transpire and at the same time be prepared on how best to handle them.
“The foolishness of people who are surprised by anything that happens,” Marcus once stated to himself.
By anticipating the future, we are working to strengthen some of the core virtues of Stoicism. It takes courage to be able to face the future and not just be swept along with what life throws at us. While we need to be agile and have the ability to adjust in the moment, sometimes we can anticipate the future and see it is going to be tough, that it is not going to be easy to get through. But by anticipating this and accepting this, we are strengthening our resolve to be courageous in the face of hardship and adversity. We are building resilience from deep within us and reminding ourselves that we can handle life, we can handle the events life throws at us.
Sometimes we do have the ability to see what is to come and can control some of the factors to the point that we control or influence the outcome of the future event. This is where we lean into our wisdom and understand that we do have some control over events related to our lives and that we can use this control to better advantage ourselves for what lies ahead. By working ahead of time and looking to make appropriate moves before an event has occurred, we are better equipped to handle the situation from an objective point of view and avoid being thrown around in a torrent of our emotions. By being able to anticipate and use our wisdom ahead of time, we take back control of the future.
Life changes in an ordinary instant as Joan Didion wrote, but that doesn’t mean we are always completely unprepared for it. By anticipating what is to come, what can become, we are better equipped to handle the future. By leaning into our virtuous character and being courageous and using wisdom, we take life’s challenges in stride and work to live our most virtuous life.
Thank you again for reading and I hope you found this useful. Please feel free to heart, comment, or ask questions about this post. Suggestions are always appreciated and considered.
Until next week,
D.A. DiGerolamo
Awesome post!