# 21 Avoid Dying A Thousand Deaths *Week 4, Day 3 of [[00 The Wealthy Stoic Course]]* #source/course << [[20 Live Below Your Means|Back]] | [[22 The 5 Rules For The Secure Stoic|Next]] >>  ## Content > “[[Socrates]] declining Perdiccas’s invitation ‘so as to avoid dying a thousand deaths’ (by accepting a favor he couldn’t pay back).” — [[Marcus Aurelius]] [The Antonine plague](https://dailystoic.com/marcus-aurelius-leadership-during-a-pandemic/) wiped out much of the Roman army. The people couldn’t afford to pay taxes for new troops. [[Marcus Aurelius]] was faced with a choice of doing things the easy way or the hard way. He could have levied high taxes, he could have kicked the can down the road, running up bills his successors would have to deal with. Rather than live in debt, Brand Blanshard writes in [_Four Reasonable Men_](https://geni.us/6lEbl), “Marcus held a vast auction of contents of the imperial palace, and sold gold, crystal and myrrhine drinking vessels, even royal vases, his wife’s silk and gold-embroidered clothing, even certain jewels in fact, which he had discovered in some quantity in an inner sanctum of Hadrian’s.” It’s possible that it was a lesson learned from studying the life of [[Seneca]]. Indeed, as we talked about in week 2, it is the defining lesson of Seneca’s life, which was defined by a fatal debt. He received so many gifts from Nero that when he tried to give the money back, he couldn’t—[[Nero]] had his hooks in him and wouldn’t let him go (only suicide eventually freed Seneca from Nero and from life). **Point being: Debt, financial or otherwise, can be a kind of slavery. Your fate—in addition to your income—is essentially owned by someone else**. You buy that big house you can’t afford, you get that expensive car on payments, you rack up charges on your credit card, and now not only are you vulnerable to swings of Fortune, but **you’ve let someone put their hooks into you**. **Watch TikTok [video](https://www.tiktok.com/@daily_stoic/video/7241597160997801259)** 📺 **To live a Rich Life, you need to avoid debts you can’t pay. ==You need to avoid dying a thousand deaths==**. And if you are in debt—whether it’s mortgages, student loans, credit cards, or personal loans—you need a plan of action for getting out of those debts. We've attached some articles to help you get started on your plan of action with getting out of debt. - [How to Get Out of Debt With the Debt Snowball Plan](https://www.ramseysolutions.com/debt/get-out-of-debt-with-the-debt-snowball-plan) - [How to Get Out of Credit Card Debt in 4 Steps](https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/credit-card-debt) - [7 Ways to Get Out of Paying Your Student Loans (Legally)](https://www.fool.com/student-loans/7-ways-get-out-paying-your-student-loans-legally/) - [Student Loan Forgiveness](https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation) - [How To Get Out of Debt](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-get-out-debt) If you would like to watch the rest of Wright Thompson's interview, click [here](https://dailystoic.com/wright-thompson-on-the-costs-of-greatness-throughout-history/). --- ## Activity **What is your plan of action?** Refer to your budget that you made back in Week 1. How much are you paying towards your loans, your credit cards, to others? Focus on one debt to tackle first. Remember that this plan happens day by day.