My introduction to Stoicism was through a YouTube video by Ryan Holiday that peaked my curiosity and a few posts and videos later, I was convinced that this philosophy was something I’d like to follow and learn more about. Since then, I have used Stoicism to filter my thoughts and actions.

There have been a lot of positive effects of educating myself about this philosophy like questioning my actions to align with my life values, reduce the undertaking of stress, becoming more self aware to name just a few.

What attracted me most about this ancient philosophy is the simplicity of it all. Things like being honest, working out, being less materialistic are aspects of Stoicism that resonate with me deeply and are simple enough to accept and embrace.

For example, one thing that I did a lot pre-stoicism was taking stress about imaginary things, the what-ifs. I can’t say that I have completely eliminated this from my life but I have become self aware to the point where I can recognize that I am doing it. I also would catastrophize a lot when I was going through something that was having a negative effect on me and this has reduced significantly as well.

Ryan Holiday’s understanding of this philosophy helped me grasp the concepts better. His analogies and insights into ancient scriptures have clarified the meaning of its key principles. I thoroughly enjoy his YouTube channel and podcast on the subject, and I always look forward to reading his books. His guests are inspiring and the stories that you hear are relatable.

One of the challenges that I have been facing is that I sometimes forget to filter my thoughts through this philosophy. In a stressful situation, I will let it get the better of me and that is something that I am trying to improve. Journaling was also something that is part of my Stoicism journey and I struggle to be consistent with it. I love journaling and it has a lot of positive effects on me but I can easily forget this and go days without documenting my thoughts.

Like any other habit, consistency becomes the biggest hurdle and it becomes very easy to go back to the old ways that we feel comfortable with. It is absolutely essential for us to call ourselves out and make sure that we don’t slip back to our past selves. We need to strive to get 1% better everyday so that this habit of constant improvement has a compounding effect that eventually leads to growth in our lives.