Despite the name, Stoicism is not a life philosophy about ignoring your emotions and keeping up the appearance of being unaffected in the face of hardship.
The Stoics are often construed as cold, stone-like figures, but this is a misconception. In actuality, the Stoics had the full range of emotion that we all do, but they chose to focus on positive ones and let negative ones run their course.

The basic aim of Stoicism is to live in accordance with the flow of nature. Nature is unstoppable as well as unpredictable. We can’t predict the future, and we can’t prepare for every foreseeable outcome. Yet we must adapt and react to whatever comes our way somehow. We must still persist. We must thrive, even, in the face of hardship. How is that possible?

Continue reading “Stoicism: The Disciplines of Desire, Action, and Assent”