It’s Not the Thing, It’s What We Make of It
“When you are distressed by an external thing, it’s not the thing itself that troubles you, but only your judgment of it. And you can wipe this out at a moment’s notice.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.47
Every hardship carries two parts: what happens, and what we decide it means.
The first is beyond our control; the second is ours entirely.
Our reactions — not the events themselves — create much of our suffering.