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Challenge
Monthly Philosophy Challenge for March.
Write about applying stoicism in 2024, the benefits, and the barriers, and the contrast to technology, and the current social climate. We want to think on this through you. Winner is decided by likes, and will receive a crisp $10.00 -Give us some clarity.

Moving Forward

I’m tired. We’re all tired. There is so much to care about, so much that calls for our attention. Our jobs demand our full energy and attention 40 hours a week (or more), and our families beg for whatever we have left after that. Meanwhile, friends and hobbies are neglected, along with mental and physical health.

On top of that, we are bombarded daily with things happening around the world – politics, war, racism, climate disasters, violence, cruelty, hate, poverty. We’ve lost so much, but there’s so much more left to lose.

I’m an emotional person, but it’s hard to feel so much. You get to a point where you just can’t grieve anymore. You can’t fear anymore. You can’t care anymore.

But apathy isn’t the answer. In fact, that’s probably the biggest danger. If we give into the temptation of apathy, everything just gets worse.

The better choice is stoicism.

Stoicism isn’t the absence of emotion or passion or care. It’s endurance. It’s a hardened outer shell to protect the much softer heart. If we harden our hearts, we can’t survive. But if we harden our outer layers, we just might make it.

Tears and screaming and arguing and complaining – it’s all exhausting, and it rarely makes a difference. It might be cathartic for a short time, but if it’s all you’re doing, you’ll lose your voice and your ability to feel.

But if we stand up in the face of all that pounds against us, with stoicism as our shield, and push, we just might make some headway. Inch by inch, we move forward. Every little act of kindness. Every time we protect someone who can’t protect themselves. Every time we choose love over hate. Every time we embrace rather than push away. Every time we choose the wellbeing of the planet over selfishness. We move forward.

And as we move forward, the forces we push against may pound away at the shield we call stoicism, slowly eroding it. But that’s okay. Because if we don’t stop, if we don’t give in, by the time the shield has wasted away to nothing, we won’t need it anymore. We’ll have reached the other side.

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