When J. K. Rowling spoke at Harvard's Commencement in 2008, her parting words were from the Roman philosopher Seneca: "As is a tale, so is life:
not how long it is,
but how good it is,
is what matters."
I ditto Rowling’s endorsement of Seneca’s wisdom. One of the first quotes I ever memorized was the simple “A day is as good as you make it” verse. My mom taught me the line and eventually made me do a needlepoint “A Day is as Good as you Make It” that is still up in her kitchen, forty(ish) years later.
So, yes, I’m a big believer in the the Viktor Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning) line of thought that goes like this: “The last of human freedoms - the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.”
We really do have control over our days and whether they are good or not so good. We can choose our attitude even in the darkest of days.
