being a stoic – My Stoic Life

In my life I have had various things happen to me, and I am sure, if added together, these things would or could add up to a diagnosis of PTSD. Childhood sexual abuse, the same as a teen, and then as a young adult. Sudden death by accident of my best teenage friend, unexpected death of my older brother, when a new mother (my babe only two months old).

I have written about some of these things, and published a poetry collection ‘damaged children, Precious Gems’, which contains some of my relevant poetry. It is a fine book, and I have copies available here Feel free to go there and we can get a book organised for you!

Anyway, I have had a week of hearing and reading about sexual abuse, it is all over the media at the moment, and I have been almost unable to stop watching and listening to it all, and I could feel it was affecting me. Then I decided I’d better take some actions to stop myself from feeling even worse, and was happy to have an event to attend, where I caught up with friends, and had an enjoyable time, chatting, and listening to the great speakers at the event.

In times of stress, which is obviously what I’ve been feeling, finding pleasurable ways to spend time, is good for a person. Exercise is also good, being ‘at one with Nature’ is good too. And for a Stoic, which I am endeavouring to be, doing what is the virtuous thing, as best as is in my power to do. Stressing about things, focusing on the bad things that occurred many many years ago, even if the after effects are still impacting on me, well stepping away form that an being in the now, not the past, that is the think I can do, the past is gone.

I can find better thoughts, those of peace, and away from strife, by looking at the good things in my life, the flowers and birds, the lovely blue sky. I can exercise more, which is good for me as it helps me deal better with the disease that may or may not be implicated with my earlier sexual abuse issues. So looking at my life now, and aiming at doing things to make this current life as good as it can be, this is going to aid me in becoming the most virtuous person I can be. Sitting on my bottom bemoaning what has happened a long time ago won’t do anything good for me at all.

Thinking about these things, and writing about them, may bring good results, following along on Social Media and sooking about it, without actually doing a thing, that will only make me feel worse. I’ve had a fairly stressful week, but yesterday and today, I’ve realise a few truths of it all, and am now going to concentrate on myself, making my body stronger, by exercising more (a thing I neglect to do far too often).

The exercise will be walking, briskly, and I know this is good, because I know how it always makes me feel, tired, yes, but filled with feel good chemicals that naturally come when a person exercises – yay to the Endorphins! Free drugs, delivered within my body, easily! So yes, I am now going to finish this post, and go walkies! Inside, and outside, recording the steps, and putting down the details my phone pedometer device tells me, to further inspire more exercises tomorrow!

This is what I am capable of doing, and what is is best for me to do, both physically, emotionally, and mentally, so goodbye, catch up again some other time!

Social Media has a lot to give to our lives, but it can also take much away. I am certainly conscious of the many hours I spend, mindlessly scrolling my days away on Facebook and Twitter. I comment, reply, ‘like, and share, and not much gets done, or changed or saved.

There are other ways of course, to be. I feel that a website and blog such as this one leads me to producing more considered words, requiring much more thought on my part. Thinking about truths as I see them, can bring further discussion, and the give and take of that process is, or at least can be a valuable thing, for those involved in the discussion.

I have a number of website/blogs, quite a few, actually, on different topics. My first one has been around for many years, and only has new information put on it for a particular yearly event, to help promote a poetry competition I am involved with. This is linked to the writing group I began back in 2005, and it is very dear to my heart, giving the chance for other poets in Australia to write poems that may win them good money, if they are good enough, in the way they address the particular theme/topic for the year.

I am the President and Competition Secretary of this group, and I feel what I am doing for others is a chance I have received myself in the past. Giving my time to my broader community in this way feels like a good thing to do, and given that it makes me happy as well, it’s difficult to see any reason why I should not do this. The time I spend every year, when the poetry entries begin arriving, is time I may otherwise waste by scrolling through Social Media, as I mentioned earlier. Writing up poetry entries is a far better way to spend my time.

The money that poets pay to enter this competition goes straight to costs in running the competition, and to the award winners, and I try to have judges who will appreciate performing this role. Judging the poetry of others is a great way to gain a better understanding on what makes a good poem, a winning poem.

The thing about Social Media though, that can be a good and Stoic thing to do, is the sharing of words with others. Good and inspiring words can help a person to find reasons for making good decisions. I have shared a few of these over the years, and I love it when others feel my words are useful ones. Here are a couple of my recent ones:

Be rich in your heart, and other riches become far less important.

Living your life well relates not to things, but to feelings and thoughts.

Do you feel these are useful words for the Stoic to bear in mind? As I have indicated elsewhere on this blog, I am in my early stages of my Stoic life, and I welcome any feedback from others which may assist me as I travel my path in Stoicism.

I didn’t put my name to those words on Facebook, when I posted them, although they were on my own Facebook page. I felt the sharing of the words there was a good thing, but claiming them outright as my own felt too prideful. Is that going to far, or is it the best way to go? The Stoics back 2000 years ago were often writing their words in private, but they spoke about these things with others. It’s an interesting conundrum, be ‘out there’ or be enclosed. Be humble is the Stoic way, I write these things for the getting of understanding for both myself and for interested others.

Again, any thoughts on this are most welcome. Thank you.

Tag: being a stoic

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