FIRST, A HARD WINTER TRAINING
“We must undergo a hard winter training and not rush into things for which we haven’t prepared.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 1.2.32
Before the advent of modern warfare, armies typically disbanded during the winter. War was not the total war as we understand it today, but more like a series of raids punctuated by the rare decisive battle.
When Epictetus says we ought to go through “hard winter training”—the Greek word is cheimaskêsai—he was disputing the notion that there is such a thing as part-time soldiering (or part-time anything for that matter). In order to achieve victory, one must dedicate every second and every resource into preparation and training. LeBron James doesn’t take a summer break—he uses it to work on other aspects of his game. The U.S. military trains its soldiers day and night when not at war, in preparation for when they have to go to war; when they do go to war, they fight until it’s over.
The same is true for us. We can’t do this life thing halfheartedly. There’s no time off. There aren’t even weekends. We are always preparing for what life might throw at us—and when it does, we’re ready and don’t stop until we’ve handled it.
9月3日
首先，来一场艰苦的冬季训练
“我们必须经受一场艰苦的冬季训练，不要贸然投入那些我们还没有做好准备的事情。”
——爱比克泰德，《论说集》，1.2.32
在现代战争出现之前，军队通常会在冬季解散。那时的战争并不是我们今天所理解的“总体战”，而更像是一连串的突袭，偶尔才会出现一场决定性的战役。
当爱比克泰德说我们应该经历“艰苦的冬季训练”——希腊语是 cheimaskêsai——他是在反驳这样一种观念：士兵可以只做“兼职”，或者就此而言，任何事情都可以只做“兼职”。要想取得胜利，一个人必须把每一秒时间和每一项资源都投入准备和训练之中。勒布朗·詹姆斯不会在夏天完全休息——他会利用这段时间训练比赛中的其他方面。美国军队在没有作战时，也会日夜训练士兵，为真正需要上战场的时刻做准备；而一旦进入战争，他们就会一直战斗，直到战争结束。
对我们来说，道理也是一样。我们不能半心半意地过人生。没有真正的“休息时间”，甚至连周末也没有。我们始终都在为人生可能抛给我们的东西做准备——而当它真的到来时，我们已经准备好了，并且会一直应对下去，直到把它处理完。
