When I walked into the Intensive Care Unit in early March 2020, I didn’t know if I was going to survive.

We had just come out of a hospital meeting, preparing to admit patients with COVID-19. None of us knew what we were truly facing. For me, it was a memento mori moment — a confrontation with my own mortality.

I had been familiar with Stoic philosophy before the pandemic, thanks to Ryan Holiday’s books and my own readings of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. But standing in that ICU, surrounded by uncertainty, I knew I was entering my Stoic moment — the time when philosophy stops being theory and becomes survival.

Thankfully, I survived. Many of my patients and colleagues did not.

Through that experience, I kept reading and learning about Stoic philosophy and its four cardinal virtues: Courage, Temperance, Justice, and Wisdom. Eventually, I decided to start this blog.

We are no longer facing a pandemic, but medicine — and particularly my field, critical care — remains full of surprises. Every day brings difficult challenges and individual patients who present profound ethical dilemmas. As healthcare providers, we struggle not only with life-and-death decisions but also with our own struggles as human beings.

I believe that Stoic principles apply to medicine. But I also believe that medicine can teach us a great deal about Stoicism.

My name is Julio Miranda. I am a Board-Certified Pulmonary and Critical Care specialist with 30 years of clinical experience. This site is where I explore the intersection of ancient wisdom and modern medicine — for physicians, healthcare workers, and anyone seeking to live with greater purpose and resilience.