“For even peace itself will supply more reason for worry. Not even safe circumstances will bring you confidence once your mind has been shocked — once it gets in the habit of blind panic, it can’t provide for its own safety. For it doesn’t really avoid danger, it just runs away. Yet we are exposed to greater danger with our backs turned.”
SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 104.10b
In the same way that trouble reveals our character, so too does good fortune. When everything’s going well, that’s when we find out what we’re made of, according to today’s chapter in The Daily Stoic.
If you happen to stumble into good luck and abundant prosperity at some point, but your soul and your mind aren’t prepared to accept it and flourish within it, then you won’t be able to appreciate it. The joy of the good fortune will elude you, and you’ll find yourself stuck in old fears.
If you haven’t taken the time to strengthen your soul, then instead of happiness, good fortune will only “supply more room for worry”.
If your mind is captivated by unhealthy habits, well, those don’t magically go away when circumstances take a turn for the better. A mind trapped in fearful thinking won’t know what to do with happier days, it won’t know how to receive them.
The only solution is to grow and become stronger of soul. Banish bad habits with consistent practice (it takes time!) and work to replace them with healthy thought patterns. Build your character up slowly — good habit by good habit — and then the next time you have good fortune, it will reveal your strength of character.
