Marcus Aurelius on getting out of bed when you don’t want to. From Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, about 175 AD.
In 132, when he was about eleven, Marcus Aurelius decided to live like a philosopher. He wore a rough Greek cloak and slept on the ground.
His mother finally talked him into a bed: a small couch spread with animal skins.
About 40 years later, the emperor had the opposite problem. Now the hard part was leaving the bed.
As a boy of about eleven, Marcus Aurelius slept on the ground like a philosopher until his mother talked him into a bed. Decades later, his notebook argued with him for staying in one. He was rising, he told himself, to do the work of a human being, as the ants and bees each do their part, and rest has its limits.
You are not getting up for the job, but for your part in other people’s day. Practical advice: name who needs you tomorrow before you set the alarm.
Well established · checked against 4 sourcesWrite down one person who needs you tomorrow, and set it by your alarm.
“I dread getting out of bed for a job I don’t love. How do I find a reason to get up?”
Get Up for the Work and the other 11 ideas of Meditations, a minute at a time.
Download on theApp StoreEvery idea is drawn from the public-domain text, and its names, dates and quotes are checked against the sources listed with it. The paintings are made for Counsel; they show the scene, not a historical record.
