In May 2014, I came across an inspiring article about an ancient Greek philosophy called, stoicism. At its root, stoicism presents the ability to transform obstacles into advantages. Those who practice stoicism are called, you guessed it, Stoics.
The modern day philosopher and writer Nassim Nicholas Taleb defines a Stoic as someone who, “transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation and desire into undertaking.”
I was profoundly moved by this article which was fortuitously published just as I was undergoing a cataclysmic business crisis and on the verge of losing everything I had worked so hard to achieve.
At the time, I don’t know if I would have referred to myself as a Stoic. But I knew, for sure, that it was something I aspired to become.
Not long after I began practicing stoicism, this image was posted on a friend’s facebook page.
I came to the realization that the seed is the quintessential symbol of stoicism, and that deep down I was a mere seed hoping to take root.
With constant obstacles being placed in my path, I spent next, nearly, 4 years clawing my way back – transforming a catastrophe into fortitude.
And, without even noticing it, that tiny seed had sprouted into a Stoic.
8 down, 357 more blog posts to go.
Rantings of a Stoic 