How A Stoic Goes To Sleep
Wearing white linen pajamas of course…
Ending the day in true stoic fashion is a habit that I must admit to frequently forgoing. However, I do my best to take the following steps to ensure sound sleep and prevent future error, especially when I feel that there are parts of my day I would have liked to try over. This process is intended to be the absolute final activity before slumber, and should therefore be preceded by any other nighttime activities such as reading, planning tomorrow, or putting the kids to sleep.
1. Retire On Purpose
Dutifully watch the clock during the evening hours so that your bed time does not evade you. Take measures to wind down your activities prior to the event so that your mind is not in a state of resistance. If you do not welcome the time for sleep willingly, your body will resist with equal mettle. Lay your head upon the pillow of your own volition, and not with reluctance or undue haste. If you have decided to extend your waking hours for recreation or study, then come to terms with the consequences you will endure in the morning and throughout the next day, and adjust your plans accordingly.
2. Ruminate Over The Day
The point is not to dwell on mistakes, regret ill-behavior, or engage in self-flattery for your triumphs. It’s a dispassionate exercise of a purely scientific nature — to study objectively your failures and successes, and resolve to make improvements in the future. A proper post-mortem of the day effectively frees you of emotional attachment to the transpired events, so that you may cast them into the realm of the past where they can do you no harm. You carry into tomorrow only the lessons learned, and needn’t relive any pain of the heart or ego.
3. Make Peace With Tomorrow
There exists a very stoic methodology regarding waking up, of which preparing yourself for the day is a crucial element. The evening application is less an exercise in fortitude, and more in tranquility. You are not sharpening the blades of willpower and rationale in preparation for battle, you are softening the cushion of equanimity whereupon you are about to rest your tired mind. Decide that the events of tomorrow are of no consequence at this very moment, and that each one, being neither good nor evil, will serve only to further you along your path towards your future self. Your reactions to these events determine what that person will look like. Hurdles and crossroads will be navigated with every ounce of the logic and strength that you have employed up until this point, and you will persevere.
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