Marcus Aurelius on Getting Out of Bed,
At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: βI am rising to do the work of a human being. What do I have to complain about, if Iβm going to do what I was born forβthe things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?β But itβs nicer here β¦
So were you born to feel βniceβ? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Donβt you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And youβre not willing to do your job as a human being? Why arenβt you running to do what your nature demands? But we have to sleep sometimeβ¦ Agreed. But nature set a limit on that, as it did on eating and drinking. And youβre over the limit. Youβve had more than enough of that. But not of working. Thereβs still more of that to do.
You donβt love yourself enough. For if you did, youβd love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for the dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When theyβre really possessed by what they do, theyβd rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts. Is not then your labor in the world just as worthy of respect and worth your effort?
Meditations,Β Book 5, Paragraph 1
