Stumbling onto the stoics
Since I have started reading and listening to audiobooks, Amazon on and off, has been recommending me books 📚 on stoics and stoicism and one fine night when there was not interesting on Netflix to watch I started listening 🎧 to THE PRACTICING STOIC by Ward Farnsworth I did not listen to it in one go, it has been a month and I am still on chapter 6th I listen to it every now and then and it has taught me ways of life like no book ever did.
Old is gold
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. It is too damn old if you ask me, the philosophy dates back to the BC era.
That book said stoics were great philosophers and psychologists of the most ingenious kind. They offered solutions to problems of everyday life that are still relevant and effective now.
Many books I have read rephrase these stoic ways of life and sell out to be bestseller books 📚. Old id gold 🪙 I guess.
The stoic teaching that made their way into my thick brain🧠 (till now)
I am listening 🎧🎶 to that book 📖 at a turtle’s pace 🐢 slow steady trying to inculcate everything I understand and can accept.
In the time with this book two stoic teachings resonated with me a lot and I have adopted them in my life 🧬.
1. Discomfort is a necessity
“Get out of your comfort zone 💪.” It is something I have heard from a lot of motivational speakers 🗣️ 🔊 but never in the way it is explained in the stoic teachings. A little discomfort is what each and everyone of us should strive for on a daily basis, that is where things happen, a little discomfort provides endurance, the scope of making us better 💪, it also helps us help appreciate the good things in life more, if nothing else it provides us strength to get through that discomfort till it becomes normalcy for us.
It might be a cold 🥶 shower 🚿 every morning ( my daily dose of discomfort that results in alertness and gets me all pumped up for the day) or those few extra reps at the gym.
A little discomfort should be a part of your daily life say the stoics and I agree.
I was having such an experience a while back when due to some reasons I was allotted a subject to teach a subject I don’t really enjoy teaching a subject that I have not taught in a span of 7 years, and that is how long my teaching career has been.
I was hesitant at first, and did not know how to approach this situation, but then I had a go at it , it was a little odd to begin with, but now I have gained enough in the subject that I can teach it way better than, when I began. This also got me more interested in the subject, more than I ever was when I was formally studying it. I am still learning but previously felt discomfort has now morphed into curiosity, and interest. That is what discomfort does, trains you to be better, change you in a way that the previously perceived discomfort becomes a normalcy and get you ready to incorporate a little more discomfort in your life and this process slowly by surely makes you invincible (well figuratively at least 😁)
That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
– Friedrich Nietzsche
2. The stoic perception of time ⏰
One thing that has affected me the most about the stoics is their perception of time they preached and practiced viewing time differently they did not perceive time in years, months or weeks, but days, and that too one day at a time, being born every morning and facing death each time they went to sleep 💤 this I found is a great way to get things done and to find time for important things🖊.
If the day you are living is your last day, what would you want to do?? I would complete something important, spend time with loved ones and would not waste time on unimportant stuff like watching that one episode of “HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER” or losing hours playing PUBG or BGMI. If it is my last day I will make it count.
And I would repeat 🔁 this each day everyday this thought has brought my OTT consumption hours down to 7-8 hours per week, from the previously spent 35-37 hours per week and I feel more fulfilled, because I spend more time with family, pursuing my hobbies, writing this blog and having fun 😊
A concept similar to this is presented in the audiobook “12 week year” it’s a moderately good listen if anyone cares to.
The amount of time we have is completely and utterly out of our control—but the way we spend our time remains ours.
-Seneca
I still am reading about the stoics, their view on life and their ways of life 🧬 in an attempt to improve myself more each day.
These are just the initial thoughts I found myself resonating with, I am sure I’ll find more as I read more about the stoic philosophy. I will discuss more such concepts of this philosophy as I read through them. Until then let’s live for today, and in the moment.