How do you be stoic and motivated?

AnxiousProof · 2019-09-09T08:31:49+00:00

Great question! I'll try to answer...

First, we need to take a step back and rediscover why each of these two principles are essential to a balanced mind.

Motivation is the transference of desire to physical action, but not the action itself. Without it nothing would be done, as we'd all be stuck in our heads. It's obvious why motivation is important, I don't think it requires further breakdown.

Stoicism is simply the endurance of suffering and extreme desire, while maintaining frame and not whining, (or succumbing to desire). When you practice Stoicism the goal is not to out-think your emotion, but to rather handle and endure the world as it presents itself to you, not allowing your fears and desires to overpower your conscious choice.

Try not to think of these two traits as black and white, or rather, that they're incompatible, because they aren't. You have to make a conscious choice as to how much of one... or the other... you apply for a given circumstance. Let me explain:

You're hungry, you haven't ate all day. You have a strong desire within you to eat food. Now..... should you succumb to the desire? (Be motivated to eat?), or should you go stoic and endure the feelings of pre-starvation while you mentally bathe in your rock solid frame?

~Obviously the answer here is clearly eat something, but it's not always this easy when trying to make a decision of course, that was just a crude example. Generally, if a desire falls low on the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs (physiological & safety needs), then go with your motivation (duh). If you run into a desire in life that could be best attributed to the upper tiers of the hierarchy triangle (love & belonging, self esteem, self actualization), you might benefit from some critical thinking (in the moment) as to what to do next.

There's no playbook for life, sometimes you're going to have to play the stoic card, sometimes you are going to have to motivate yourself, but it's all for satisfying the grand scheme of things, which is living a happy and meaningful life, your life. I hope this helps.

30dirtyfingers · 2019-09-09T10:55:54+00:00

Stoicism is to keep a handle on your emotions. Positive emotions are fine, its the negative emotions that need stoicism. And the stoicism is really so that you dont over react emotionally.

Title	How do you be stoic and motivated?
Author	2fassy
Upvotes	2
Comments	2
Date	September 9, 2019 7:37 AM UTC (6 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/d1nq50/how_do_you_be_stoic_and_motivated/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/how-do-you-be-stoic-and-motivated.252421 https://theredarchive.com/post/252421

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