Got a problem? Stiffen your lip and... carry on Marcus Aurelius wrote a book about stoicism 2,000 years ago, So why is it suddenly back in vogue, asks Edel Coffey [Edition 3]

• Published in: Irish independent
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dublin Independent News & Media 09.07.2014
• Subjects: Aurelius, Marcus; Fennell, Natasha; Holiday, Ryan

Now, however, Ryan Holiday's modern interpretation of [Marcus Aurelius]'s meditations, The Obstacle Is The Way, is showing us how to knuckle down and make something of ourselves with old-fashioned traits like thrift, determination, courage and persistence. Holiday describes Meditations as the definitive text on selfdiscipline, personal ethics, humility, self-actualisation and strength. "If you read it and aren't profoundly changed by it, it's probably because, as Aurelius says, 'what doesn't transmit light creates its own darkness'." "We had to let one person go, which was devastating for a small company like ours." But within that obstacle was a chance to improve the company's condition. "We reexamined and reviewed our business and realised we would have to rely more on the private sector. We're a bilingual company, so we expanded the Irish-language element of our business." That worked for a while but as government funding cuts started to take effect in the Irish language sector, they had to adapt yet again. The kernel of stoicism is just getting on with it. "It's like climbing up a hill," says [Natasha Fennell]. "You might be halfway up and feel like you can't go on but at that point it would take as much energy to go back down as to go on fi so you might as well keep going."