There’s no question that the last year and a half has been tragic. Millions of people have perished in a merciless pandemic, millions more are still dealing with the consequences. Businesses were destroyed. Jobs were lost that will never come back. Relationships were subjected to unimaginable strain. Institutions were stretched to their breaking points. 

To which the Stoics would say, And? This is life! Especially Marcus Aurelius, who himself endured a far worse plague and much greater geopolitical strife. He would remind us that history has always been difficult, that life has always been filled with events like this, that this was just our turn in the barrel. Mostly, though, the Stoics would ask, So…what did you learn from this experience?

Did you learn what matters to you and what doesn’t? Did you learn how to be patient? Did you learn how to deal with your anxiety? Did you learn how your actions affect other people? Did you learn how interconnected all our lives are in this modern world? How vulnerable the system is, how vulnerable your own safety net was, how fragile life is period (memento mori)? Did you learn that you’re stronger than you thought you were?

Because to not learn from the events of the COVID-19 pandemic would be to add impiety on top of the tragedy. In fact, the ability to learn from, to grow from, and to find meaning in the twists and turns of fate, according to the great Viktor Frankl, is one of the few powers we puny humans have in this life. The events of the last year have been trying, they’ve been unpredictable, they’ve been painful. They have also been instructive…if you choose to see them that way. And why on earth would you choose not to see them that way, considering the alternative?

Nothing can bring back the people or the time we have lost. It is an insult to their memory, it is to add insult to our own injury, not to learn from—to grow from—what has happened. So that it might never happen again (if that’s possible) or that we might be better prepared when it does (which it will). 

P.S. This was originally sent on June 18, 2021. Sign up today for the Daily Stoic’s email and get our popular free 7-day course on Stoicism.