It was a dark day, almost exactly 244 years ago. Christmas was here, at one of the darkest times in the American Revolution. George Washington was planning to cross the Delaware River, a desperate move necessitated by a string of setbacks and ebbing support for the revolution across his struggling country.
Whose fault was this disaster? How had things gone so poorly?
Washington wasn’t interested in those questions. As he wrote in a letter to Robert Morris from his headquarters that day, “it is in vain to ruminate upon, or even reflect upon the Authors or Causes of our present Misfortunes.” Instead of looking backwards, Washington said, “we should rather exert ourselves,” meaning they should focus on how they were going to respond. His response was a daring attack on the Hessian troops in Trenton the next day, which may well have saved his army and the foundering nation.
This mindset is part and parcel of the Stoicism that Washington had known and followed all of his life. Looking at events in the calm light of mild philosophy, as he liked to quote from the Stoic philosopher Cato, deciding not to be ruled by his phantasiai and instead focusing on what he’d do next. And that’s what we should take a minute to think about this Christmas, whether we’re busy working or taking some time with family or planning out how we’re going to use 2020 for a fresh start.
Not what caused our troubles. Not who authored them. Not how much blame they deserve. Not whether it could have been avoided. Those questions are irrelevant distractions—answering them an exercise done only in vain. What matters is how we plan to exert ourselves, how we plan to fix our situation, how we plan to respond to what life has thrown at us. Whether it’s a passive aggressive family member, a struggling business, an industry destroyed by the pandemic or a series of bad personal choices, we have the power to decide what we’re going to do next.
We can exert ourselves. We can still turn this around.
All we can do is respond.
Who knows what 2021 has in store for us, but it’s not like the difficulties we experienced this year magically go away. To be resilient and prepared takes training—a hard winter’s training as Epictetus calls it—and you can begin that training by joining the New Year, New You Challenge. It’s 21 of the best lessons in Stoicism, presented once per day as an actionable challenge. You’ll leave the 21 days as a better person, better ready to serve those around you. Click here to sign up and join us.
P.S. This was originally sent on December 24, 2020. Sign up today for the Daily Stoic’s email and get our popular free 7-day course on Stoicism.
