How To Be Cool According To Stoic Philosophy

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are basically two ways you can go about your day, with style, and without style.

The day will run as smoothly as you want it to. It is not the day or the world that gets agitated, it is you. This is good news because as much as it might seem like, some days, the world is doing everything to make you trip, you’ll always be able to respond back with a wide, maybe even lunatic (haha), smile in your face.

This capacity, the capacity to choose how to respond to the world around you, is the greatest human capacity. The level of control you have about this capacity will determine whether you live your day in style or not. It’s truly an art to be able to own yourself all the time.

Many things, many people, many situations, will try to own you. They will try to knock you off your cool vibe. But they will only be successful if you let them. You hold the keys. Don’t give them away so easily hey?

In stoicism, this capacity to remain cool, to remain unscathed (without suffering any injury, damage, or harm.), is called temperance. Temperance is one of the 4 Stoic virtues, along with courage (my favorite), wisdom, and justice.