Attempting to be a Stoic, Part I
This is my first entry to the #theminamalist community. I found it a bit ago on Hive, but feeling overwhelmed the past few weeks with a narcissitic boss/toxic workplace, family moving back to the area, and life in general, I failed to put a comprehensive thought together to write about. You know the feeling...life getting in the way and creating anxiousness and stress...I guess that is why I found this community so interesting and intriguing. So here I am, finally!
I stumbled across a YouTube channel a few months ago called The Daily Stoic. I was intrigued as I recalled the philosophy a bit from a class in college 20 odd years ago. I watched a few videos and again, was intrigued. The whole channel seems to be a marketing platform at this point to create a financial empire, but the ideas beneath it all resonated with me strongly. So hey, why not head out to the bookstore and purchase a few books, right?
First and foremost, the The Daily Stoic mentions the book by Marcus Aurelius called Meditations. I'm sure most on this community are aware of the book; I'm late to the Stoicism show, however, and picked it up. I also stumbled across a book online called Stoic Spiritual Excercises...again...intrigued, I snagged it up to assist with the start of my journey.
I glanced through Meditations and stumbled across one random passage regarding a human being making the choice to get out of bed and live life. Interesting...how many times have I hit the snooze button in my life instead of getting outside to get a morning walk or hike in? Way too many times, sadly! So yeah, Marcus Aurelius, you hit a chord!
So the plan (and I'm terrible at following through with plans, by the way...), is to do a weekly summary of where I am at in respect to attempting to be a Stoic. My goal is to follow through with one exercise each week, share the results and/or my sensibility of the exercise, and add some photos each week I managed to take while "not staying in bed." Being present and mindful seems like an absolute God send for my brain...I hope this will be the start of a wonderful journey that resonates with me. Time will tell..
Thanks for reading my post; and thank you to the Minimalist community for letting me share my thoughts and plans on this Friday morning!
Man, I feel your pain 🤗
💯% You better believe it.
Hmm, do you normally tell others your plans? I find that people who advertise their plans oftentimes omit the follow-through process. I think it's a psychological thing, maybe? It's like saying it and elaborating on it confuses the mind that it's already done. I don't know 😆
Welcome to the community, I'm happy that you got around to posting here. Thanks for the recommendation on that book:)))
I typically only tell my wife my plans, lol, then it goes away...I think you are correct on it muddying the waters. We'll see if I can follow the "plan" here for a bit - hopefully good for the mind!
I so feel you when you hit the snooze button in life, and I do experience it when I get so busy with work. I am glad you found that book for reflection and meditation my dear friend. Have a nice time and take care.
thank you for stopping by - I'm looking forward to sharing my adventure with this path, and I hope it adds value to us all
I also seem to suck at plans. And right now, I’m in that place you mentioned. No toxic bosses just neglectful ones and a whole pile of school work that makes me want to scream murder. Being mindful would help a lot I guess. And I need to reread on this stoicism thing.
Yeah, you will have to let me know how it goes! I started tracking my exercise a bit today that were recommended. I'm curious if it does stick and work for me.
Will keep that in mind. I have been fascinated with Stoicism and have only fed myself bits and pieces of it.