Read Think & Write

If you are like me, trying to improve health and overall well being, then you might be into one of those topics. Minimalism is a great concept, even if I am struggling to implement it in our family life. I love to have a growth mindset and being physically strong. Fasting seems to be very beneficial for a human being. I read a lot about these topics. However, my time is limited and I decided to prioritize my reading. Should I read more about fasting and less about minimalism or more about mindset and less about strength training? Or could I have all in one place? Slowly, I started to realize that an ancient philosophy called Stoicism covers all topics. I learned about Stoicism a few years ago. I remember me thinking how crazy this is that 2000 and more years ago people were struggling with the same problems we still face today. Fascinating that this stuff survived 2 millennia and still attracts us today. It seems that we humans did not change so much. We are still the same human beings as my favorite philosophers Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius have been. Epictetus was a slave, Seneca was a wealthy philosopher finally forced to kill himself by the reigning emperor Nero and Marcus Aurelius was the last of the five good emperors of the Roman Empire. A pretty diverse bunch of philosophers. Yes, life was harder back then. Being a slave was not fun, neither was it to be in the hands of a tyrannical emperor nor managing a declining empire. But this is how we judge about it in hindsight and how others might judge about us and our time in 2000 years. All three had figured out how to cope with their challenges. First and foremost they distinguished strictly between what is under their control and what not. Only your desires, judgments and actions are under control. Your body, health, reputation, wealth is not fully under your control. If you learn just one thing from the Stoics, then learn to make this distinction and nothing can harm you.

The Stoic Philosophy teaches us to be happy with what we have and to wish things to be like they are. We should live in accordance with nature, train mind, and body, and live a life of voluntary hardship. A Stoic is just, courageous, modest and wise. If someone asks me who I am or what I do, I would love to answer that I try to live a stoic life. A simple answer that includes living a minimalistic lifestyle, fasting, strength training or learning and a lot more. However, a stoic does not talk about how to be a good man. He leads by example. I am working on this.