My name is Allan, and it’s my aim to use my years of learning and experience to help you apply ancient Stoic wisdom to modern life so that you can learn from the past (but let it go), plan for the future (but not obsess), and most importantly, live in the present.
What Is Stoicism? is a combination of original content and the best curated resources from around the web to help you benefit from adopting Stoicism as your philosophy of life.
The motivation for this site comes from my own adoption of Stoicism as a guiding philosophy, and my continued desire to learn more about it. As the Stoic philosopher Seneca wrote, “While we teach, we learn.” So the more useful information I can provide for others, the more informed I become myself.
Stoicism is a philosophy that can, amongst other things, help you:
- Be more resilient, content, courageous, present, and kind
- Be less angry, anxious, fearful, undisciplined, and reactive
I believe Stoicism can help anyone live more in a joyful present and less in a regretful past or a foreboding future.
A Little Progress Each Day
It’s vital to remember, however, that using philosophy to change our way of thinking or deal with negative emotions, like anxiety or anger, won’t happen without consistent practice and repetition.
Sometimes when I share a Stoic principle or quote, someone will respond by saying, “That’s easier said than done.” That’s true, of course. But everything is easier said than done! That doesn’t make it a good excuse not to try.
Positive change takes effort, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start small and make a tiny bit of progress each day. That’s what I try to help with.
If you’re new to Stoicism, this page will give you the introduction you need. There you’ll find out what the philosophy is and how it began.
For a fuller explanation of my own introduction to Stoicism and how it can help inform our daily lives, you might find this video useful: