W

September   10th

PREPARING   ON  THE SUNNY   DAY

“Here’s a   lesson  to  test    your    mind’s  mettle: take    part    of  a   week    in  which   you have    only    the most

meager  and cheap   food,   dress   scantly in  shabby  clothes,    and ask yourself    if  this    is  really  the

worst   that    you feared. It  is  when    times   are good    that    you should  gird    yourself    for tougher times

ahead,  for when    Fortune is  kind    the soul    can build   defenses    against her ravages.    So  it  is  that

soldiers    practice    maneuvers   in  peacetime,  erecting    bunkers with    no  enemies in  sight   and

exhausting  themselves  under   no  attack  so  that    when    it  comes   they    won’t   grow    tired.”

—SENECA,    MORAL   LETTERS,    18.5–6

hat if you spent one day a month experiencing the effects of poverty, hunger, complete isolation, or
any other thing you might fear? After the initial culture shock, it would start to feel normal and no
longer quite so scary.
There are plenty of misfortunes one can practice, plenty of problems one can solve in advance.
Pretend your hot water has been turned off. Pretend your wallet has been stolen. Pretend your cushy
mattress was far away and that you have to sleep on the floor, or that your car was repossessed and you
have to walk everywhere. Pretend you lost your job and need to find a new one. Again, don’t just think
about these things, but live them. And do it now, while things are good. As Seneca reminds us: “It is
precisely in times of immunity from care that the soul should toughen itself beforehand for occasions of
greater stress. . . . If you would not have a man flinch when the crisis comes, train him before it comes.”