Seneca went into exile just days after burying his only child. Marcus Aurelius was getting himself out of bed at dawn each morning despite the betrayal of his most trusted general, despite the rumors of his wife’s infidelity, despite the fact that everything that seemed like it could go wrong, had. Rutilius Rufus showed up for his show trial every day, never revealing a hint of the disgust and pain it must have inflicted on him to be accused of something he’d never do.

How these men must have ached. How sad they must have been. How angry they must have been. They didn’t stuff these emotions down—as we said, that’s a myth about Stoicism—but they did keep going. They kept writing. Kept working. Kept being of service. Kept being good. Kept smiling. Kept trying to be the person philosophy tried to make them.

“You know you're good when you can even do it with a broken heart,” Taylor Swift sings. That is Stoicism. You keep going. You do your best. Even if life has kicked the crap out of you. Even if someone has twisted your insides up. Even if you’re depressed. Even if you’re anxious. Even if you’re tired, so tired. Even if nobody knows. Even if nobody understands.

You’ve got a job to do, duty to fulfill. A broken heart can slow us down, but it can’t stop us.

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