This Is A Choice You're Making

Posted Feb 11, 2025

We think if we just make enough money, we won’t have to worry anymore. We think if we just get big enough, strong enough, we’ll be free from feeling pushed around. We think once we get through this rough patch, we can finally relax and leave our worries behind.

Of course, it never works out that way. No one has ever reached this mythical worry-free state. Look at your own progress—you have more now than before, yet have all your problems vanished?

Does that mean worry is just a part of life? That stress is inevitable no matter how successful or powerful we get? Well, no—unless you choose for it to be. In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius talks of his anxiety. He realizes that it’s not coming from anything external. It’s within him. It’s a choice he’s making—which means he’s also the one who can do something about it (our Anxiety Medallion is a powerful reminder of this).

This isn’t to say money can’t make things easier, or that lacking money isn’t a real challenge. But having or not having something is external. Worry, doubt, anxiety, stress—indeed all our emotions—are internal. We can influence our internal state, but not external circumstances.

So let’s address the problem where we can actually make a difference. Let’s stop telling ourselves “it will all be better in the future,” because the present isn’t the problem. External things aren’t the problem. Our emotions are at the root of our discomfort. They reside within us. They are our responsibility to manage.

excerpt from The Daily Stoic