Joyce Ann Isidro
Do you want to live a life with only happiness, wealth, and abundance?
If so, stoicism is not for you.
But if you read that and thought: “well, that’s just unrealistic.”
Then you might be a stoic person!
Stoicism is for people who want to know how to navigate the difficulties in life, how to survive its most challenging problems, and how to emerge from them a stronger, better person.
Think this is you? Read on to learn about the signs you might be a stoic person.
1) You’re hard to read
You’ve probably been told you seem mysterious, or that it’s difficult to see what you’re thinking at any given time.
Wonder why?
Well, it’s probably because you don’t really express your emotions much, which is a common trait of stoic people.
Whether it’s sadness, anger, annoyance, or relief, you always try to keep such emotions at bay, which is why they don’t usually reflect on how you outwardly react.
It’s not that you don’t like having emotions, it’s just that you don’t see the need to express them very loudly, because you think doing so is just a waste of energy.
And just like displaying your emotions, you think it’s also a big waste of time to keep dwelling in the past.
2) You don’t dwell in the past
You’ve probably heard of the saying: “there’s no use crying over spilled milk.” This saying actually perfectly reflects the traits of stoics!
For the philosophy of stoicism, the past is in the past. When the milk hath been spilt, the only thing you can do is pick up the mop and clean it all up.
As a stoic, you firmly believe that all we have is now, and pondering about past mistakes or worrying about the future is a waste of time. Both the past and the future is something we have no control over.
When you experience setbacks, you don’t really get discouraged—in fact, you feel some sort of motivation when you fail.
You don’t think failures are hindrances from your goal. Rather, you treat failure like steps that lead you to the eventual achievement of your goals.
3) You’re practical
Stoicism is the embodiment of practical philosophy.
As a stoic, you commonly think of the best way to spend your time and the best things to dedicate your energy towards.
Usually, these are things you enjoy, like hobbies such as reading. It can also be things that make your life better, such as exercising.
This is why you don’t spend your time thinking too much about the past or things you can’t change, because it’s not a very wise use of your time.
Your practicality is also the main reason why you hate drama.
4) You hate drama
Ugh, drama. The bane of every stoic’s existence.
As a stoic, you believe there’s no need to get caught up in mindless drama.
You hate the type of person who stirs up drama in the slightest provocation, because you personally don’t really make a big deal out of everything.
Even if you commit mistakes, you don’t make a big deal out of it.
You acknowledge what you’ve done wrong and quickly move on, because you know it’s only a waste of time and energy to dwell on it or overdramatize it.
However, you still recognize that actions have consequences, and are wise enough to make the proper reparations when your mistakes affect other people.
Simply put: it’s not hard for you to apologize, not just because you know this is an essential step to move on, but because you always take other people’s feelings into consideration.
5) You don’t get carried away by your emotions
Too many of us get carried away by our emotions too often.
But you, as a stoic, know not to do this, because you’re aware of how it can be damaging to yourself and the people around you.
While you acknowledge that feeling emotions is perfectly normal, you manage to always keep them at bay.
And even if you’re feeling an intense emotion, such as anger, you know when to walk away from the situation, cool down, and respond when you’re in a better headspace.
Ever been asked how you rarely ever get angry? This is probably why.
6) You rarely ever get angry
As a stoic, you have a good handle of your own emotions, especially anger.
When we’re angry, we tend to lash out, yell, or say hurtful things to the person we’re angry at, which usually ends up in both parties getting hurt.
But as a stoic, you understand the consequences of not being able to control your anger.
Perhaps you know how it feels to burn a loved one with hurtful words before, which is why you try your best to control it at all times.
While you recognize that anger is an important emotion to have because it lets you know that there’s something wrong that needs your attention, you also understand that you need to control it in order to prevent yourself from hurting yourself and the people you love.
7) You assume the worst
A key trait of stoics is being able to assume the worst.
This is not because you’re pessimistic, that you always expect bad things to happen, and that no good thing can possibly come your way—you’re logical enough to know this isn’t true.
You assume the worst because you’re always preparing yourself for the worst possible scenario, as if preparing yourself to break the fall before you hit the ground.
This is how stoics deal with grief that comes from loss or death. Stoicism revolves around the understanding that everything shall come to an end, and this is how you live your life.
Why?
Because you know that there’s no use trying to escape the inevitable, such as death and loss, so you just prepare yourself for the blow before it comes.
8) You’re not impulsive
Stoic people are not impulsive.
Whether it’s a simple, seemingly harmless purchase or a big life decision, as a stoic, you never make decisions on a whim.
You don’t really act without thought, or find yourself suddenly in dangerous situations without knowing how you got there.
In fact, most of your actions and decisions are well thought of.
You weigh the consequences of each decision, think about the people that will be affected, and how your life will change before you make a choice.
9) You don’t worry
Anxiety is not something that stoics live with, because they don’t worry.
And as a stoic yourself, you’ve adopted this belief.
You know that the future is uncertain. That no matter how much we try to prepare ourselves for it, we are ultimately not in control of what will happen in the future.
Yes, bad things may happen, but because you know to assume the worst, you’ve already prepared yourself for these things.
In other words, you know that the future might not always be bright, but even if it’s dark, it’s not really that big a deal.
You know you’ll get through it, anyway. Like you always do.
10) You live a virtuous life
Lastly, it is no question that stoics live a very virtuous life.
A common misconception about stoicism is that it’s not really a virtuous philosophy to live by, because most people perceive it to be dark or pessimistic.
But this could not be farther from the truth.
While you don’t see prosperity, wealth, and abundance as end-goals, you know to live your life with good principles.
You know that you must treat everybody with respect, compassion, and kindness at all times.
And most of all, you know how to make the most of the short time that we are given on Earth, which is why you try to live a life that is good for you and the people you love.
