Marcus Aurelius experienced his fair share of tough situations. Political enemies. Illnesses. Battlefield defeats. Ordinary frustrations at home. Each one of these things would have tested his equanimity, just as our own obstacles and problems test our own. 

How should we respond to such difficulties?

Marcus said we should face them with two important traits—Judgment and Adaptability:

“Judgment can look the event in the eye and say, ‘This is what you are, regardless of what you may look like.’ While Adaptability adds, ‘You’re just what I was looking for.’”

That is to say, objectivity and flexibility, honest assessment and open-mindedness. We should see every event, he said, as an opportunity for the exercise of rationality and civic virtue. We should see obstacles clearly and then respond to them with discipline and a good set of ethics. 

It’s great advice. And something we can each hold ourselves to today. When we draw on our Judgment and Adaptability, nothing can stop us from moving forward, from making progress. Because nothing is as bad as it seems, and there is nothing that we can’t accommodate or work with. 

With these two traits, we can’t lose.

P.S. This was originally sent on December 30, 2018. Sign up today for the Daily Stoic’s email and get our popular free 7-day course on Stoicism.