It may feel like you're not good at this Stoicism thing. You lost your temper yesterday. You relapsed on some bad habits. You did something that was unkind. You did something out of fear.
Ok, few would confuse you with Cato. So? Few confused anyone with Cato. Even in Rome at that time there was an expression: "We can't all be Catos." This isn't to excuse your mistakes or your less than virtuous behaviors. It's just to point out that you're thinking about it wrong.
The great record producer Rick Rubin makes a helpful analogy in his book The Creative Act (which we talk about in this must-listen, double episode of the Daily Stoic podcast). Just like you may say you're not a good Stoic, people might say—or worse, believe—they're not creative. "You're either engaging in the practice or you're not," he writes. "It makes no sense to say you're not good at it. It's like saying, 'I'm not good at being a monk.' You're either living as a monk or you're not."
What he means is that creativity, like philosophy, is not an end state—it's a process, a practice. It's the attempt, not the outcome that counts. It's an intention, not a disposition. So what you fell short, were you trying? Are you still trying? That's the important thing. Stoicism is something we do, or rather, it's something we are doing. Every single day, we're trying. Every single day, we are putting the time in, the effort in, the intention in. We won't always be successful, we won't always live up to our standards, but what counts is that we don't quit. What matters is that we trust the process, that we respect the practice.
P.S. As Rick Rubin said about creativity—either you're engaging with the practice or not—the same goes with Stoicism. This philosophy is designed to be a daily practice, part of our daily routines. That's the whole idea behind The Daily Stoic—to give you one important concept, one nugget of Stoic wisdom, for you to engage with each day (we also have a premium leather-bound edition!). And for the practicing Stoic, no exercise is more essential than journaling—putting the day up for review, Seneca called it, "hiding nothing from myself, passing nothing by." As we've said before, journaling is Stoicism and The Daily Stoic Journal—filled with weekly and daily prompts—is a great tool for those looking to start a journaling practice. Get these books and more over at the Daily Stoic Store today!
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