No matter how good our life is at the moment, we can fully expect life to throw challenges at us sooner or later. Who would have thought last year that a large number of us would all be working from home for months on end? Things like illness and job loss happen to us when we least expect them. How to deal with such challenges? Can we be handle anything that life throws at us? Of course, we can, said the Stoics. 

We can cope with anything 

Nothing can happen to you that you can-not endure. 

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.18 

It may not always seem so, though. The current challenge may be too much for you and you may worry about the fu-ture. However, Marcus Aurelius reminds us that we have been able to cope with our life’s challenges thus far. When the future arrives, we will have the same resources we had in the past to cope with it. So, no matter what challenge you face—whether it is an unfavourable di-agnosis or insecurity about the future—remember this: 

Don’t let the future worry you. You will meet it—if you have to—with reason, the same resource you use now to deal with life. 

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.8 

We should remember our resources 

We may not be convinced yet. Some-times we are overcome by what has hap-pened to us and feel frustrated, helpless, and angry. Well, that’s because we pay so much attention to what is bothering us rather than looking at things that can help us. In fact, we have in-built re-sources to cope with any challenge that life may throw at us. 

Remember that for every challenge you face, you have the resources within you to cope with that challenge. If you are inappropriately attracted to someone, you will find you have the resource of self-restraint. When you have pain, you have the resource of endurance. When you are insulted, you have the resource of patience. If you start thinking along these lines, soon you will find that you don’t have a single challenge for which you don’t have the resource to cope. 

Epictetus, Enchiridion 9 

What exactly is Epictetus saying here? He is implying that whenever we face any difficulty we act as helpless victims. We indulge in self-pity. Epictetus is ask-ing us to get out of this self-inflicted vic-timhood. He asks us to examine our ar-senal of resources. There we will find every resource we need to counter every challenge we face. You have pain? You have the resource of endurance. You feel insulted? You have the resource of pa-tience. 

As we redirect our thinking and focus on what is under our control, we will find the strength we need to cope with the problems we face. 

Lack of confidence 

Many people feel that they are not confi-dent about facing the future because of the current difficulty. In reality, it is the other way around. 

Our lack of confidence doesn’t come from difficulty; the difficulty comes from our lack of confidence. 

Seneca, Epistulae Morales 21 

Not feeling bitter 

When we thus start looking for solu-tions(our resources) rather than com-plaining about problems (things not un-der our control), we stop feeling bitter about what happened to us. 

Don’t say “How unlucky that this has hap-pened to me!” Say instead “How lucky that this has left me without bitterness, not upset by the present, not afraid of the future!” 

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.49 

Our challenges are short-lived 

Most of us treat the challenges we face as permanent. Yet everything in life is fleeting and constantly changing. Yes, that includes the challenges we face. 

Think how quickly all things come into being and how quickly they pass away. The river of life flows without stopping. It is constantly changing, never standing still. There is the long stretch of infinity ahead of it and behind it. It is a vast abyss into which everything we see is lost. What sense does it make to fret and fume — as if your troubles are going to last forever? 

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.23) 

We have built-in resources to cope with any problem we face. All we need to do is to identify the right resource and use it and not feel bitter about it. In any case, all our problems are tem-porary and they will pass. 

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