Daily Stoic Entry #161: If Someone Else Was Strong Enough to Do It, Why Can't I?

June 10th, 2022

Follow along with my personal daily stoic journal, unfiltered, unedited (except for some spelling mistakes).

Morning Reflection:

You know you can, we all know we can deep down. That's what I realized earlier this week. Strength and happiness don't come from anything you achieve but the negativity you let go. The fear of change, the negative self-talk, leave that behind and you'll find the strength to do most things others won't. Not that it's easy but without your negativity fighting against 'the hardship' you can't change. Well … then you're free from suffering.

Evening Reflection:

Steering back to the original question, it has to do with our stories and excuses. Because we often turn this exact question around to: 'If someone like that couldn't, I surely could never succeed,' or twist it further to something like: 'Well, they must've been superhuman, I could never do something like that, they're simply different.' Those are just stories we tell ourselves to feel better about not chasing after things like we know we should.

Title prompts are taken from The Daily Stoic Journal by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.