How to Live the Stoic Lifestyle
Three Ways to be a Stoic
With how hectic and fast-paced our lifestyles can be, it’s easy to lose sight of the simple things in life. Often our daily routines and schedules can become overwhelmingly complicated and labyrinthine, creating a general sense of anxiety and concern. Stoicism is an ancient philosophy developed hundreds of years ago that taught simple ideas for happiness and tranquility. The following are just a few facets of the philosophy that you might want to follow in order to live a better life.
Sense of Control
Being a Stoic means recognizing the lack of control that most people have in life. As humans, we have a tendency to want to control all aspects of our lives and mould things to become predictable and controllable. However, the truth of the matter is that overall, most things in life are out of your control, and it’s better not to worry about the things that are not within your control and instead focus on what you can control, which are your own feelings and responses to the world. Knowing this will make you more relaxed when things don’t go according to plan or when something unfortunate and unpredictable happens.
Material Goods
Stoics do not necessarily have to give up their material goods. However, being a Stoic means recognizing the fact that material goods are just that: material. What’s more important in life is your own spiritual and emotional well-being, and material goods are not a necessary part of the human experience compared to your own self-development.
Misfortune
Stoics view misfortunes not as a negative which puts you down, but as a chance to develop your own personality, character, and virtues. Misfortunes are simply events in life that you can use to your advantage and are challenges that make us human. It’s important to reframe the negative things in life and focus, once more, on the things which are controllable.
These 3 ideas are just a few facets of the Stoic Philosophy, but keeping ancient wisdom in mind can be beneficial even in our modern age, as long as we realize that we are all simply human.