It’s nice to witness your philosophy working in action. It’s cool to see yourself habitually choose to be Stoic in a moment of turmoil and stay calm and focused on controllables.
I don’t know why I have such strange bad luck with my car. In the past few months I’ve popped two tires on a new curb by work, locked my keys in the car for the first time, and today, hit an electric scooter that someone decided to leave lying down in the middle of the road. Today’s incident left me with what I assume is a crack in my oil pan because something was leaking out of it all morning.
This was a hectic way to start my morning and a lot of anger and poor decisions could’ve come from it, but with some things in life, my Stoicism kicks in immediately. Instead of getting pissed off, flustered, upset, or doing something dumb, I focused on what needed to be done. I spent a few minutes unjamming the scooter from under my front bumper, I moved it off the road, I texted my parents, and drove to work (this move may have been dumb, but I did it anyway).
Sure, I let out a quick “Fuck!” when I saw what I had done, but after that, I focused on what I needed to do, kept calm, and worked through it. I quickly understood the mistake was made and couldn’t be changed and thus shouldn’t be upset by. Instead of freaking out, I parked my car and went for my morning walk then set up the coffee shop like nothing happened.
The issue will be resolved and unfortunately I’ll have another chunk taken from my bank account, but I’m happy with how I handled it. I’m proud of myself for being able to stay Stoic in a chance occurrence that very well could’ve have ruined my entire day. Now I only wish I could do this in every scenario.
This response didn’t come out of nowhere, it came from years of practice. I wasn’t always able to keep my cool when shit like this came up and there are still a few times when I don’t act Stoically. I wish I could act like this in every situation, but I know the key to getting there is more self awareness and lots of practice. As little as I want obstacles to arise in my life, I know I need them in order to practice.
So this was a helpful lesson for me and hopefully you can learn from it too. If there are times when you act in ways that you later regret, don’t simply brush them off, learn from them. Acknowledge the times when you do act well and the times when you don’t. In those moments where you sense negative responses coming up, try catching them and doing something different. Your philosophy is there to guide you through life’s ups and downs, but you have to be self aware enough to see when you’re being tested.
Whatever obstacle comes your way, use it as practice. Stay Stoic and do what needs to be done.
November 3, 2024
