Can You Play Ball?
Life throws stuff at us. We have to figure out how to catch it and throw it back. That’s what Epictetus meant when he said we don’t control what happens, we control how we respond.
But he also liked that throwing metaphor–and clearly was more than a casual fan of sports. Epictetus admired the way that skilled athletes caught the ball that was thrown to them and whipped the ball right back. They didn’t complain. They didn’t demand certain conditions be met before they dove for it. He admired their concentration, their coolness under pressure, their grace, their creativity.
In his view, Socrates was such an athlete. “Only the ball in his case,” Epictetus said, “was life, imprisonment, exile or execution–with the prospect of losing his wife, and having his children reduced to the status of orphans. Those were the stakes of the game and still he played and handled the ball with aplomb.”
What about you? Are you such an athlete? Can you ball? Or do you make excuses? Do you prefer to sit in the stands and judge the people who can play? Win or lose, what matters, the Stoics believed, was that we tried. That we did our best. That we dove for the ball, that we risked it all but played fair. That we held our head up high, that we didn’t get intimidated or make excuses.
Life is going to throw you curveballs. Are you ready?
