So much happens in life. There is so much happening. Forget macro events—there are dogs that get sick in the middle of the night. There are trips that need to be made to the store. There are unpleasant conversations to have. Bills that somebody has to pay. Dishes to be done. Hard decisions to make. 

Most people’s reaction—especially when those macro events are stressing them out on top of everything—is to shirk. It’s to see if someone else can handle all that for them. It’s to try to get out of whatever can be got out of. It’s to resent even the idea of an obligation. 

But the Stoic? A Stoic politely sings to themselves those lyrics from one of the greatest songs of all time:

And you put the load right on me 

You put the load right on me

Remember, in a crisis—a pandemic just like this one—Marcus Aurelius stepped up. In fact, the famous story about Marcus Aurelius is that he didn’t want to be emperor at all. He wasn’t sure he could do it. But the night he was informed of the news, he had a dream. In that dream he had shoulders made of ivory. It was a sign: He could do it. His shoulders could bear the weight. Put the load right on me, he said to himself. And he bore it for the rest of his life. 

Things are hard right now. They’re scary. They’re not your fault. But they are your responsibility. They are yours to step up and carry. Because you have the shoulders that can bear the weight. 

Where did Marcus learn to do that? To step up? He learned it from his philosophy teachers. He learned it from his adopted father Antoninus. He was fighting, always, to be the kind of person they—and Stoic philosophy—wanted him to be. 

We tell that story in our newest book The Boy Who Would Be King. The early response has been amazing. If you grab a copy this week, we’ll throw in our special production of the audiobook for free. We’ve even got signed copies. Check it out!

P.S. This was originally sent on March 10, 2021. Sign up today for the Daily Stoic’s email and get our popular free 7-day course on Stoicism.