Enchiridion 9 looks at the relationship between choice and what we view negatively. How do things like sickness and financial difficulties affect us? Can we make choices for better aspects of life? We can let things get to us or we can make choices with reasoning. It starts with being honest with yourself.

It’s not uncommon at all for people to lie a bit about themselves in order for them to appear better on the surface than they really are. They might lie about being happy with their job and about how their life is going.

Over time, these little lies can seep into people’s own thoughts, and they’ll start to believe their own lies. This is a dangerous situation to be in. Once you start to believe some of the little lies that you tell people to spice up your life, you start letting little problems accumulate subconsciously.

When you stop being honest with yourself, you’re not able to fully address all the genuine problems in your life, and small things can start to become big really fast.