What is Stoicism? A Definition & 3 Stoic Practices To Start You Off

“A Stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.”

- Nassim Taleb

I first found Stoic philosophy by chance around 10 years ago when I picked up a copy of Philosophy For Life and Other Dangerous Situations.

The first thing that stood out was its refreshing honesty, direct approach and practicality for everyday life. With a focus on dealing with hardship, taking personal responsibility, and reducing stress and suffering.

My bookshelves up to that point saw an increasing number of “self-help” books that promised happiness, confidence, peace of mind, etc. If I’m honest, most of them were BS. However, in Stoicism and the stoic philosophers, was a 2000 year old philosophy that added more value to my life than all of the other books and their combined pages.

Since then, it’s grown into the foundation of my personal philosophy I use day to day.

So what is it?

Definition of Stoicism

The Founder of Stoic Philosophy:

Stoicism is a school of ancient philosophy of life founded around 300BC by a man called Zeno of Citium.