"Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it"

Marcus Aurelius speaks to the timeless challenge of self-acceptance and our relationship with mortality. The call to be content with what you are invites reflection on the nature of self-worth and the tendency to desire transformation into something other than oneself. Many people carry the belief that happiness lies just out of reach, tied to achieving more or becoming someone fundamentally different. Marcus counters this urge by advocating satisfaction with one's present self, guiding the mind away from restless striving and the anguish that accompanies self-rejection.

The advice to wish not change is not resignation to stagnation or a denial of personal growth. Instead, it warns against the perpetual longing for altered circumstances or an entirely different nature, those external or internal changes we believe will finally bring peace. Grounded in Stoic philosophy, his words urge the cultivation of inner tranquility by accepting oneself and one's lot as it presently is, rather than succumbing to envy or dissatisfaction.

He then addresses our common preoccupation with death: neither fearing nor yearning for the last day. Many people, out of anxiety or despair, either dread the certainty of mortality or, conversely, long for release from life’s burdens. Marcus proposes a balanced, rational engagement with the idea of death, neither shrinking from it in terror nor seeking it from hopelessness. To dread the last day robs the present moment of serenity, overshadowing life with fear. To long for it is to undervalue the gift of existence and all its opportunities.

By uniting contentment with self and equanimity toward life’s end, Marcus Aurelius suggests a path to enduring peace. True tranquility arises when we stop measuring life and ourselves against shifting desires and learn to live mindfully, embracing each day without regret or anticipation, simply and utterly accepting what is.