Jordan Peterson channels Marcus Aurelius: Life is hard. Stand up straight with your shoulders back. Get your room clean before you decide to start changing the world. Pick up the biggest weight you can carry, it will give meaning to your life. Treat yourself as someone you care for. Pay attention.
Marcus Aurelius on How to Turn Around a Rotten Day
“…there will always be difficulties to drag through your day… Nothing has to go right today for you to act with honor and character. …we, not other people, are the problem. …things don’t have to go well for you have to a good day. …instead of treating yourself with respect, you have entrusted your own happiness to the souls of others. …Concentrate every minute…on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice.”
Peterson has become notorious because so few have ever heard this. Modern University courses would regard Marcus Aurelius as a white-privileged, patriarchal colonizer; if they mentioned him at all.
That, and they’re all clamoring about their “rights” with no regard for their responsibilities.
Update. 5:47 PM.
I notice I am not the first to make this association:
Jordan Peterson and the Return of the Stoics