“Here's a lesson to test your mind's mettle: take part of a week in which you have only the most meager and cheap food, dress scantly in shabby clothes, and ask yourself if this is really the worst that you feared. It is when times are good that you should gird yourself for tougher times ahead, for when Fortune is kind the soul can build defenses against her ravages. So it is that soldiers practice maneuvers in peacetime, erecting bunkers with no enemies in sight and exhausting themselves under no attack so that when it comes they won't grow tired.”
- Seneca, Moral Letters, 18.5-6
September 10, 2021 7:00 AM
The authors of "The Daily Stoic" offer us a challenge that would be difficult to complete. Yet, these are the types of actions we should be practicing.
Don't drive to the store, walk or take the bus. Imagine you have lost your job and start the search for a new one. Play out as if you have been diagnosed with a health condition and change your diet accordingly.
Conclusion
We can plan for catastrophe, but by practicing a life without this or that, we can better mentally prepare for such an event.