Pursuing emotional moderation or equilibrium ad infinitum is a form of death by armor. Albert Camus understood that, to truly lean into the intensity of being alive, you have to “live to the point of tears”—to be moved by beauty, to be hurt by connection, to be overwhelmed by the absolute absurdity of existence. This is the highest form of courage! Lao Tzu wrote: “The living are soft and yielding. The dead are rigid and stiff.” Stoicism is a shield for war, not a lifestyle design playbook.