It’s where I am right now, at work. it doesn’t help that I’m not sleeping particularly well. That makes the hard slog sloggier.
And yet. Let’s imagine what Marcus Aurelius would say.
First, remember the part where he tells you to get out of bed. I can’t remember how many times recently I have awakened, wishing for more rest, and then that passage has come to mind.
At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”
Meditations, 5:1.
That gets me up and headed to the kitchen to make coffee.
Then, it’s time to not take myself or my circumstances too seriously.
that if you were suddenly lifted up and could see life and its variety from a vast height, and at the same time all the things around you, in the sky and beyond it, you’d see how pointless it is. And no matter how often you saw it, it would be the same: the same life forms, the same life span.
Arrogance … about this?
Meditations, 12:24
It’s harsh but accurate. Is it pity party? Is it arrogance? No, it’s the same old stuff for you and everyone else.
You can do what you can do. Let’s go do it.
Finish your coffee, have a shower, get dressed. There are things to do.