November 23rd, 2021
In short, you must remember this — that if you hold anything dear outside of your own reasoned choice, you will have destroyed your capacity for choice.
Reading the words of Epictetus, I only understood part of his message. When adding the comments from "The Daily Stoic" the message takes on even more significance.
Attachments can be comforting. It is only with experience that we learn that we can form unhealthy attachments. We should take a moment of pause and examine our attachments to the quality of people in our lives, attachments to fortune, reputation, occupation, and way of life. Why are they unhealthy? All of these attachments can change, and it is out of our control.
Everything can and will change. We can lose an attachment at anytime. Our ultimate recourse is our ability to make a reasoned choice.
While we can't control change, our choices allow us to be resilient. Our ability to make rational choices about a change can help easily accept and adapt the change.