It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.

Circumstances can take a great deal, and pretending otherwise helps nobody. What tends to remain, even in bad stretches, is a small territory of judgement: what you make of the situation, and what you refuse to become inside it. That territory is often narrow, and defending it can feel like the last thing you have.

On a hard day, look for the one decision that is genuinely still yours and make it deliberately. It may be small, like how you speak to someone, or whether you tell the truth about where you are. Holding that ground is not the same as feeling fine, and it does not have to be.