Fortunate Life

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The power of controlling what you can

This morning I sat with my coffee and watched the light slowly fill the room. I noticed how peaceful everything felt. Quiet. Uncomplicated. And I realized that the only time my life feels heavy is when my mind starts wrestling with things that are outside my control. It is almost embarrassing how often I do this. I replay conversations in my head. I wonder what people are thinking about me. I try to guess outcomes. I try to shape situations that are clearly not mine to fix. I hold on to timelines that do not belong to me. And every time I do this, I lose my peace. I am learning that there is a boundary in life. A simple invisible line. On one side are the things I can influence. My attitude. My choices. My reactions. My habits. My words. On the other side are the things that are none of my business. How people behave. What they choose to love or neglect. What they give. What they withhold. The pace of life. The unpredictability of the world. And yet, I still find myself crossing tha...

9 Gentle Reminders From Tim Minchin That Life Does Not Need To Be Figured Out Today

While browsing Facebook, a short reel appeared on my feed. It was Tim Minchin giving a graduation speech, and somehow his words stayed with me long after the video ended. It resonated with me in a way I did not expect. So I thought I would share it here, in case someone else needs these reminders today. Every now and then, someone gives a speech that does not just entertain but quietly rearranges something inside us. Minchin’s words are blunt, warm, funny, and surprisingly comforting. They remind us that life is not a straight line and we do not need to pressure ourselves into knowing exactly where we are going. Here are the nine lessons from his speech, shared in a way that helps us reflect on our own little journeys. You do not need to have a grand dream For most of our lives, we were told to “dream big” as if having one huge clear dream is the only way to succeed. But Minchin reminds us that it is perfectly fine to be micro ambitious. Focus on the small task in front of yo...

The Strength of Delayed Reactions

Today I learned something about myself. Or maybe it is something that has been quietly growing inside me for a long time. I am becoming someone who pauses. Someone who does not let every emotion spill out the moment it arrives. Someone who chooses their response instead of letting reactions take over. It still feels a little strange to admit this, because I have never been the overly reactive type. I rarely say things I do not mean. I rarely send messages I later regret. I am usually careful, even when I am hurting. But in the past, my emotions would stir so strongly inside me that I could feel the urge to respond quickly, as if speaking immediately could save me from misunderstanding or disappointment. Those were the moments when I wished I had given myself more time to breathe, because clarity always arrives after the first wave of emotion. Stoicism teaches the value of the pause. That small moment between stimulus and response. That breath. That quiet space where the heart softens...

The Practice of Returning to Myself

Today I learned something simple but important. I realized how often I drift away from myself without even noticing it. It happens quietly, almost gently. I shift my focus to what other people think. I adjust my tone to make someone comfortable. I soften my boundaries to keep the peace. I silence what I truly feel so I do not create conflict or appear difficult. I do not do these things out of weakness. I do them because I care deeply. I pay attention. I value harmony. I want connections to feel safe, warm, and steady. But sometimes, in my effort to be gentle to others, I forget to be gentle to myself. The Stoics teach that we should guard our inner peace the way we guard something priceless. They remind us that the world will always have noise, expectations, and opinions, but our inner self is something we can always return to. Today I thought about that. How many times have I abandoned myself just to be understood. How many times have I minimized my own feelings just so someone els...

The Discipline of Letting Go of What I Cannot Keep

Today felt like one of those quiet turning point days. Nothing dramatic happened. No big life event. No sudden revelation from the sky. But something inside me loosened, something I had been gripping too tightly without even noticing it. It is strange how the things we hold on to the hardest are usually the things we were never meant to keep. People. Expectations. Old versions of ourselves. The idea of how something should have been. The fantasy of how someone should show up for us. The timeline we imagined our life would follow. I do this sometimes. I cling to what feels familiar even when it no longer feels right. I replay the same memories. I revisit moments that hurt me. I hold on to the invisible thread connecting me to people who have already walked ahead without me. It is not because I am weak. It is just because my heart remembers deeply. But today I woke up feeling a quiet shift inside me. Maybe it is the Stoic principle sinking in. Maybe it is simply maturity. Maybe it is ...

Reframing Struggles as Training

Today I found myself thinking about the things in my life that feel heavy. Not the dramatic ones, just the quiet struggles that sit in the background. The small disappointments. The unspoken worries. The responsibilities that stretch me. The moments when I feel unsure of myself. I realized how easy it is to treat these moments as burdens, as proof that something is wrong, as signs that I am falling behind. But this morning, while brushing my hair, a thought came to me so softly that it almost felt like someone whispered it into my mind. What if this is training. Not punishment. Not failure. Not chaos. Just training. I paused and let that idea settle. Life has a way of placing us in situations that we did not ask for but somehow need. The challenges that frustrate me are often the ones that shape me. The moments that disappoint me are usually the ones that push me closer to who I am becoming. I started to see my struggles through a different lens, not as obstacles but as exercises. A...