Practice like a Stoic: 5, Strengthen yourself through minor physical hardship
Fasting, abstinence, cold showers, and all that jazz
[This series of posts is based on A Handbook for New Stoics—How to Thrive in a World out of Your Control, co-authored by yours truly and Greg Lopez. It is a collection of 52 exercises, which we propose reader try out one per week during a whole year, to actually live like a Stoic. In Europe/UK the book is published by Rider under the title Live Like A Stoic. Below is this week’s prompt and a brief explanation of the pertinent philosophical background. Check the book for details on how to practice the exercise, download the exercise forms from The Experiment’s website, and comment below on how things are going. Greg and/or I will try our best to help out! This week’s exercise is found at pp. 31-41 of the paperback edition.]
"Now there are two kinds of [Stoic] training, one which is appropriate for the soul alone, and the other which is common to both soul and body. We use the training common to both when we discipline ourselves to cold, heat, thirst, hunger, meager rations, hard beds, avoidance of pleasures, and patience under suffering. For by these things and others like them the body is strengthened and becomes capable of enduring hardship, sturdy and ready for any task; the soul too is strengthened since it is trained for courage by patience under hardship and for self-control by abstinence from pleasures.” (Musonius Rufus, Lectures, 6)
Even though the Stoics thought the mind was our most valuable asset—it’s the most sophisticated and important tool we have at our disposal—they did not neglect the body. In fact, as Epictetus’s teacher Musonius Rufus suggests, the mind (or “soul”) and body work together, each influencing the other, for good or for bad.
We can and should train our mind, which is why we study philosophy to begin with. This book is, after all, a series of exercises to train your mind by thinking more precisely about what is worth pursuing, what you should avoid, and what it means to have a life worth living. But philosophy, the Stoics rightly insisted, cannot be solely a matter of theory. Just as we can’t learn to ride a bicycle simply by listening to someone’s instructions on how to do it, so, too, we don’t become virtuous just by reading Epictetus or Seneca. We need to practice.
You may practice relatively mild exercises of self-imposed discomfort, following the examples listed by Musonius: Try going out in the cold without a coat, or in the heat while being overdressed; abstain from drinking water when thirsty (within reason); fast for a day or two (unless you have a medical condition—check with your doctor); sleep in a sleeping bag instead of your bed for a night or two; skip that yummy dessert after dinner, or decline the taste of that wonderful red wine you so enjoy; or choose the longest line at a checkout aisle to test your patience.
Why would anyone want to self-inflict any of these discomforts? The point isn’t to indulge in self-flagellation for the sake of making yourself miserable. These are all instances of mild self-deprivation. The Stoics did this in order to strengthen their character and resolve, and their ability to deal with hard times in a virtuous manner. The core idea is that the mind allows us to get through these situations unscathed. Here it is our own choice to go through the exercises; then when imposed on us by circumstance, we are already used to the idea that discomfort is no big deal. If others get through similar situations just fine, why complain and become frustrated when it’s our turn?
We learn from Stoic philosophy, as well as modern empirical research in cognitive science, that unless we are well trained we should avoid difficult tasks or situations that are hard to handle when we are tired, hungry, sick, or otherwise physically distracted.1 When our body is strained, so is our mind, preventing us from being able to handle, say, a delicate discussion with our boss at work or our partner at home. In such a case, know thyself, gently ask for a postponement, and practice!
I have been through many hardships and adversities in my life including debilitating painful disease, unexpected death of a loved one, cancer and financial hardship all before I started with Stoicism. I now think, ‘I’ve had enough adversity in my life I don’t need to add more voluntarily.’ (Although, I still practice a form of fasting and train at the gym three times a week). Massimo, do you think the Stoics would still encourage someone like me to practice voluntary hardships having been through a lot already?
This is probably an important one for me—I very much like my little routines and free time, so if something disrupts them or I have to do an unexpected chore, I can get a little frustrated. This week I’ve pushed myself to do extra chores after work even though I didn’t want to…although I’m not sure if I’m cheating since they were chores that really should get done! Maybe I’ll try doing something like giving up lunch or my morning coffee (very important to me!) another week!