The epigraph of this book is from a letter called Consolation to Helvia that Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger sent to his mother after he was exiled to an island: “All your sorrows have been wasted on you if you have not yet learned how to be wretched.” This is a lesson I have absorbed fully. I have every terminal degree in wretchedness, and now I take comfort in it because I know it is not fatal.
