Daily Meditations · Monday, July 20, 2026
On winning and losing
"It is difficult to combine and unite these two qualities, the carefulness of one who is affected by circumstances, and the intrepidity of one who heeds them not." — Epictetus, Discourses, Book II
Epictetus was born a slave in Phrygia and taught in Rome until Domitian expelled the philosophers from the city. He then founded his school in Nicopolis, on the western coast of Greece, and spoke often about the athletes and competitors of his day. He watched men train for the Olympic and Isthmian games and used them constantly as a figure for the moral life: the contest matters, the outcome does not belong to you, and the only real defeat is a failure of your own conduct. A wrestler who loses well has lost nothing of himself.
This week, before the World Cup final in New Jersey, Post Malone will headline the closing ceremony of the FIFA World Cup 2026, taking center stage before the tournament's final match on Sunday. Two teams walked out knowing that only one would carry home the trophy, and that the other would carry home something harder. The spectacle around a final can make the result feel like the whole meaning of the thing. It isn't. How a person plays, and how a person accepts the score, outlasts the score.
When the result is finally out of your hands, what is left that was always yours to control?
Source: sports.yahoo.com →
