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You didn't choose the role, but you can choose how well you play it.
Remember that you are an actor in a drama, which is as the playwright wishes; if the playwright wishes it short, it will be short; if long, then long. If the playwright wishes you to play a beggar, it is assigned to you in order that you good-naturedly play even that role. For this is what is yours: to finely play the role that is given; but to select it is the role of the divine playwright.
We didn't choose to be born. We didn't choose our parents, or our country, our body, or a good deal of the circumstances we find ourselves in. Instead, these things were assigned to us. We don’t get to choose them, we don’t get to give them back.
What we do get to choose is how we play the part.
It doesn't matter whether we've been given the role of beggar or public official, or whether the drama is long or short. What matters is whether we play the role well — and "well," in Stoic terms, means appropriately (in keeping with what is expected from a person pursuing Virtue).
This is a useful way to avoid two common traps.
1️⃣ Self pity. "If only I'd been given different circumstances, I'd be a better person."
Maybe… but you weren't.
2️⃣ Complacency. "My circumstances are comfortable, so I must be doing fine."
Comfort and character are different things, and plenty of people play an easy role poorly.
An actor’s role does not determine the excellence of their performance.
A script does not absolutely dictate how an actor must act out a scene.
So, we can't swap our part for someone else's… but we can, every single day, choose to play ours with appropriate care.
Today's suggestion: Consider one role you didn't choose (a circumstance, a limitation, an obligation) and ask yourself: "Am I playing this well, or am I spending my energy wishing I'd been cast differently?"
Stay hungry. Stay wise. Eat brekkie.
