The greatest mistake a person can make is to live in fear of making it. One of the fundamental principles of Stoicism is the practice of the present, for life should be action, not remorse or anxiety. Living in the present leaves no room for anything beyond this moment. A person focused on moving forward and acting with their thoughts rooted in the present will always be serene and stable.
On the other hand, those who succumb to worry will always be captured by it. As Seneca said, 'He who suffers before it is necessary suffers more than is necessary.'
Suffering before it's necessary means suffering twice: once before the problem arises and again when it actually appears. Why suffer over a problem that hasn't happened yet and may never happen? By worrying prematurely, you fill your mind with negative thoughts and hinder your performance.
Live with serenity. Accept the past, for it cannot be changed, and live in the present, for it will shape the future. From its roots, Stoicism offers us actionable advice to live a serene life free from negative concerns.
If you worry about an external event, it's not the event itself bothering you but the judgment you make of it. Erasing this judgment depends solely on you, as Marcus Aurelius said, 'If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your estimate of it, and this you have the power to revoke.'
Worrying from morning to night about the unknown will only bring external events and unforeseen situations. Life, unlike a scripted movie, follows an unpredictable sequence of countless external occurrences. You're merely passing through them.
Since most events are beyond your control, remember that it's just your mind's judgment. Worrying about things that don't directly depend on your actions is your choice, and often, this kind of worry doesn't even materialize into a problem or torment. So, it's up to you to decide whether to worry or not.
Stoicism teaches that worry stems from our emotional reactions. Thus, practicing self-control is essential to avoid worry. We must learn to manage our emotions and thoughts. Humans are emotional beings, and we can't avoid feeling emotions like anger, joy, or sadness. These emotions will always be inside us. Your duty as an individual lies in controlling them and deciding that they won't affect your state.
One increasingly common type of worry leads to depression and anxiety, largely due to our anxiety over the supposed problem. Excessive worrying, apart from focusing your attention on something uncertain and possibly real, overloads the mind and propels it toward anxiety. The more effort you put into facing what torments you, the greater the worry.
Face your uncertainties as soon as possible. Your life needs you in the present. Everything else is a distraction. As mentioned earlier, if you have to suffer, you will suffer; it's inevitable. Worrying from start to finish is unproductive. Life's unpredictable nature means that most of your worries are about things beyond your control. Recognize this, and you can redirect your energy to what you can control-your reactions and attitudes toward events.
Separate what is within your control from what is not. As Marco Aurelio emphasized, distinguishing between what you directly control and what you don't is crucial. He argued that most worries arise when we confuse these two domains. What's under our control-our will, our attitudes, and our responses. However, many aspects of life are beyond our control, such as other people's actions or natural events. By focusing our efforts on what we can influence and humbly accepting what we can't, we can avoid unnecessary anxieties. A clear understanding of this distinction helps us avoid becoming excessively attached to outcomes that are beyond our control.
Practice emotional detachment. Stoicism instructs us not to be slaves to our emotions and to cultivate the ability to observe them with detachment. Marco Aurelius advises us to analyze our feelings impartially, recognizing that they don't define us entirely. By realizing that we are more than our momentary emotions, we gain the capacity to choose how to react to them. Practicing emotional detachment doesn't mean suppressing emotions, but rather, not letting them govern our actions and thoughts detrimentally. It helps reduce the worry generated by emotional intensity and allows for a more rational approach to challenges.
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14 окт 2024
