Brian Johnson (speaker) presents a short, motivational +1 episode focused on the Nietzschean idea of amor fati ("love of your fate"), largely via a quotation from Joseph Campbell. He emphasizes treating setbacks and crises as opportunities for growth — "the demon that you can swallow gives you its power" — and urges listeners to bring love to difficult moments so strength and character emerge. The piece frames apparent failures as formative events and endorses an antifragile mindset: nothing that happens is ultimately negative when embraced.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. In our last plus one, we hung out with Joseph Campbell as he channeled some Friedrich Nietzsche wisdom. As you may recall, Campbell told us about the importance of loving our fate and pointed out the fact that the more challenging or threatening the situation or context to be assimilated and affirmed, the greater the stature of the person who can achieve it. The demon that you can swallow gives you its power. Eat any demons yesterday. Nom nom, nom. As it turns out, Campbell riffs on the same Nietzsche wisdom in a slightly different way in another one of his brilliant books. Here's how he puts it in a Joseph Campbell Companion. I quote again, Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called the love of your fate. Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, this is what I need. It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment, not discouragement, you will find the strength. Is there any disaster that you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature and your life. What a privilege this is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow. He continues by saying, then when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seem to be great failures followed by wreckage were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You'll see that this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it it is not. The crisis throws you back. And when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes. What can you say about that other than what he said? Cue our chorus of singing angels, please. That's today's plus one. Let's love our fates. Whatever happens to us, let's say this is what I need. Look like a wreck. Go at it like it's an opportunity, a challenge. Bring love to the moment. Watch the strength appear. And as we face our current challenges with spontaneous strength, let's remember to appreciate the fact that the moments that seem to be great failures in the past were the incidents that shaped the life we have now. Can you see that with the right antifragile mindset, nothing can happen to us that is not positive. Period. Can you feel that? Here's to embracing all of life's opportunities to optimize and give the world all we've got. Plus one, plus one, plus one.
