Meditate often on the swiftness with which all that exists and is coming into being is swept by us and carried away. For substance is like a river’s unending flow, its activities continually changing and causes infinitely shifting so that almost nothing at all stands still.
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.23
Marcus borrows this wonderful metaphor from Heraclitus, who said, “No man steps in the same river twice.” Because the river has changed, and so has the man.
Life is in a constant state of change. And so are we. To get upset by things is to wrongly assume that they will last. To kick ourselves or blame others is grabbing at the wind. To resent change is to wrongly assume that you have a choice in the matter.
Everything is change. Embrace that. Flow with it.
* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman