Living as a Stoic

I really enjoyed being stoic! I practiced stoicism from the 25th to yesterday and I feel like I learned a lot. Meditation is something that I got into a lot during quarantine 2020, but kind of lost my time for it as the days started getting busy again. The reflections at the beginning and end of the day really benefited my work ethic and overall mood. I found myself reflecting on things like my internal reactions to situations, not just my external reactions. I also really enjoyed the quotes for each day. My favorite one was “We were born for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth. So to work in opposition to one another is against nature: and anger or rejection is opposition.” I believe this quote resonated with me because of the nature of the Haverford community. There are times when, as a student body, we are working together, and others when we are working against one another. But the times when we are cooperating are those when I remember why I love it here so much. When there are rifts in the campus’ social life, you can feel the literal energy shift on campus, as if nature itself is rejecting our conflict. On my final day living as a stoic, I was feeling relaxed and ready to get the most out of my seventh day as a stoic. I also love nature so this worked out! The midday exercise made me feel wonderfully small. There is something comforting about being a small part of something large. And that everyone around me is also a small piece with me, and we are in turn working together for some unknown reason. This view from above was a great way of conceptualizing this idea. I absolutely adored the evening text as well. The concept of my ancestors having touched the same earth as me made me feel so connected to my surroundings and nature. This gave me an amazing sense of belonging and comfortability with where I am. The midday exercise for Sunday also resonated with me heavily, discussing the idea of what is in our power. Recognizing the things that are outside of my control helped with my self-analysis and viewing myself outside of myself. As I was evaluating the things causing negative emotions in my life I asked if it was something I could control or not. If it was something I could control, I would write down what I could do to change those negative emotions, and if it was something I could not control, I made a conscious effort to not dwell on those negative emotions. This helped me to pinpoint the source of negative things in my life and either take action to change those negative things or accept their presence. Overall, I really enjoyed living the week like a stoic. I knew what I wanted to accomplish, and how I could accomplish it, regardless of adversity, and at the end of the day, I was able to reflect and think about how to improve for the next day. I can definitely say I will be making a conscious effort to implement some of these practices into my daily routine and some of these ideas into my own mindset, as I think they will really help me learn from my daily life and conquer and move past adversity.