A Stoic Approach to Coronavirus
As I write this blog, we find ourselves in unprecedented times... A global pandemic has caused the world to change how we live our lives. Entire countries have been forced into lockdown, governments have restricted citizens movements and millions of people are now working from home and will remain indoors for the foreseeable future. Thousands have died from the virus, people have lost their jobs and the economy will suffer greatly. The situation is very serious and very scary. This is new territory for all of us and something that has certainly had a huge impact on our modern way of life.
The purpose of this post is not to dwell on our situation (there are plenty of blogs and articles out there doing that), but to talk about what we can do with the cards we have been dealt. A lot of people are finding the challenges associated with the coronavirus chaos to be overwhelming. I feel this too. None of us can escape what’s happening, so we need to start to look at the situation in a constructive way. To do this, I am going to talk about how my favourite philosophy (Stoicism) can help us out.
Stoicism is an Ancient Greek Philosophy that is packed with useful tips and tricks for dealing with the chaos of life. I think a lot of the concepts within Stoicism map perfectly onto the situation we find ourselves in right now. By using these concepts as a guide, we will be better prepared to face the rollercoaster ahead of us.
Control
One of the most important ideas within Stoicism is the concept of control. The Stoics accepted that we have very little control over external events. The only thing that we have control over is how we respond to these events. Epictetus, one of the most famous Stoic philosophers, used to bang on about this all the time! And for good reason - this is such a helpful piece of advice when you really think about it. There is so much in life that we can’t control but accepting this can be very powerful. When something goes wrong, we have a choice about how we deal with it. Our power is how we choose to respond. This is true for so many situations in life but especially true for coronavirus. We can’t control what is happening with this virus, but we can control our response to it… We can choose to remain positive in the face of all the negativity we encounter. We can choose to practice good hygiene and ensure that we are following government advice carefully. We can choose to stay at home and help to stop the spread of the virus. We can choose to use this time indoors to start new hobbies and connect with old friends. We can choose to be more conscious and grateful of the important things in our lives. We can choose our response to all of this and it’s important that we choose carefully.
Accepting that we can’t control everything in life is the first step towards becoming able to face chaos and disruption. When we spend time and energy on things we can’t change, we tire ourselves out physically and mentally. It’s so much better if we focus on what we can actually do and put our attention there. A lot of things might be beyond our control right now but there are still things we can control. Focus on these things. Focus on what you can still do. Focus on your response to everything. This is where you can bring ancient Stoic wisdom back to life!
Character building
Stoicism focuses a lot on developing a strong and resilient character. It does this by reframing challenges and adversity as opportunities to become more mentally resilient. If we view difficulties as “character building”, we can start to extract meaning and value from these experiences. When there’s a chance to walk away from a situation with a positive, we should take it. The Stoics would always look for a way to turn adversities into lessons and I think this model of thinking can be very helpful for all of us.
If we start to view coronavirus as a test of character, we can begin to focus on our performance during this test. Maybe you can stop and think about what grade you would be getting right now. Go on, have a think… Are you dealing with the situation well? Would you give yourself an A for effort? Or a B? Or maybe a D or an F? Grading yourself during this “test” can help you to think objectively about your response to the situation. When you become conscious about how you are responding to everything, you can start to see if you are making things better or worse for yourself. If you graded your current performance badly, try to think about what you could do to improve your grade. What actions could you take that would allow you to score better on this “test”? When you start to think in this way, it can be incredibly powerful.
Journaling
The Stoics were fans of journaling and would use self-reflection as an important part of their philosophy. Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations is essentially a journal that was never meant to be published. This was his personal diary where he would reflect on external events and explore Stoicism. Interestingly, this book is now one of the key texts within Stoicism and is essential reading for anyone interested in the philosophy.
The ability to look at how we are dealing with the challenges life throws in our direction is very important. This can be seen in the last Stoic point I mentioned (character building) and is actually a very pragmatic practice.
Assigning time to reflect on our day and look at how we performed in different areas can be a great use of our time. Establishing a morning and evening routine for this can be very beneficial and help us to create structure amidst the chaos we find ourselves in. I would encourage self-reflection as an important part of the day and something that can help us to check-in with ourselves.
There are many more ideas within Stoicism that can help us to face challenges and difficulties and I would encourage you to dive into the philosophy deeper if you like some of the ideas here. I’ve found all three of these points to be particularly helpful for me when dealing with the coronavirus chaos. Having some kind of personal operating system and philosophical framework to rely on in tough times is incredibly helpful. Wherever you find this strength, and whatever philosophy or system you use, it’s important to hold onto the valuable lessons to be found there. I hope you can now add Stoicism to this list.
I think it’s extremely important for us to remember that coronavirus will pass and that we will see the other side of it. I know how sad and scary it can be right now, but I would encourage people to focus on the fact that this will end. Things are constantly changing and we will get through this!
I also think it’s really important for us to reflect on the bravery of those on the front line. There are so many demanding jobs right now where workers are facing unbelievably tough challenges. These people are heroes and their Stoic attitudes inspire me. They highlight the best of the human race and it makes me feel hopeful for the future. The level of kindness we see from these people is humbling.
I’d like to end here and wish you all the best whilst facing the challenges in front of you. I hope that some of the ideas in this blog are useful for you when thinking about coronavirus and I hope that it outlines a way to constructively and positively face the challenges ahead.
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters”