Marcus Aurelius, writing privately in his *Meditations*, never intended his notes as a self-help manual — they were a practicing emperor's daily corrective, written to himself when he kept slipping into the same old irritations. In Book V, he asks why we feel wronged when people act according to their nature, comparing it to being surprised that a fig tree produces figs. The insight cuts deeper than it first appears: most of our frustration with others isn't really about their behavior — it's about a hidden expectation we never consciously chose to hold. Stoicism's practical gift isn't detachment; it's learning to examine the expectation before you feel the sting.

What's one expectation you hold about someone in your life that you've never explicitly examined or even named to yourself?

Drawing from Stoicism — Marcus Aurelius (Meditations, Book V)