My path to flourishing was a hard-wrought one, I guess. My mom had a debilitating, but not fatal, stroke when I was almost 14. My parents died when I was under 30 and both were better off without the world’s earthly cares.
I learned the lesson that “shit happens.”
I learned to remember that death is around a corner.
Two days after I met my husband, we drove to see mountains and spun out on black ice. As we coursed toward the ditch I put my hand on his shoulder and said “just relax, just let it go.”
We were married less than nine months later.
I learned to accept the gifts of the present.
I had been a practicing Stoic since I was an adolescent. And without knowing it, Stoicism had already put me on the path to living a good and meaningful life.
Almost 20 years later, I learned about Stoicism while reading a Mark Manson book.
This book led me to the Big Three and more contemporary Stoic authors.
And I was home.
I have been a practicing Stoic since I was an adolescent. And without knowing it at the time, Stoicism had already put me on the path to living a good and meaningful life.
Today, I fall and I get up. And I will fall and I will get up. But the path is there, always waiting for me to get back up and on track.
I’m Lydia Scratch and this is my #PathsToFlourishing story.
Connect with Lydia Scratch on Twitter and learn more about her coaching practice at Stoic Solutions Coaching.
This is a #PathsToFlourishing story published as part of a series of stories inspired by the Stoicon-x Women 2021 theme: Practical Paths to Flourishing.
Paths to Flourishing 