The modern world is a LOT. I read somewhere that the average person is fed the same amount of information in a single day that an educated person 500 years ago would have seen. So it's no wonder that a lot of us are anxious and overthink everything. In a quest to find a healthier way of navigating the world, I came upon Stoicism. It really drives home how many things we get worked up about that are outside of our control, which is a re-framing that fundamentally changes how we react. It also dives deeper into how to live effectively and have a good life. It sounds like a lot of pseudo-philosophic culty mumbo jumbo (which is what someone trying to get you to join a cult would say), but the best entry point I can give is The Soft Stoic Letter. It's a newsletter from someone who is an expert in Stoicism and psychology and she ties it all back into our modern life so well. It's one of the few newsletters I never skip when it's in my inbox. If you want to learn about Stoicism (and it's very different from the lowercase "stoic") or you just want to think a little bit deeper about how you react and exist in the world. I recommend it. Start with issue 8, "How to not make every mildly inconvenient event a personal attack from the universe," and issue 14, "How to Stop Wasting Energy on Shit You Can't Change."
a month ago
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Yes! This is actually the first thing on Stoicism I started with.
Maria Semple’s most recent book, Go Gentle, is a funny, feminist, warm novel, and also contains a healthy dose of Stoicism. Another possible easy entry point? It definitely left me Stoicism-curious.
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Abby Phoenix
“I recently got this rec from Rec League (meta!), so can’t speak to it as well as others here have, but after signing up, I received this perfect newsletter yesterday. Reading it helped me start healing something that I wasn’t even fully aware had been happening below the surface, and I just woke up today feeling better: more content with where I am and ready to handle whatever comes next.”

Ashlie
@ashlie


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