Hello everyone, Justin Vacula here.

You're listening to the Stoic Philosophy Podcast - practical wisdom

for everyday life.

Today's episode focuses on the topic of anxiety largely informed by the writings of Marcus Aurelius.

Visit my website at justinvacula.com where you can find links to my social media portals and see past
content on Soundcloud, YouTube, iTunes, or Stitcher. Support my work by becoming a monthly
supporter on Patreon or by making a Paypal donation, see the donate tab on my website. Share,
comment, like, subscribe, and leave a review. I really appreciate your support and feedback which
helps me grow my audience and keeps this project going.

Might you struggle with anxiety and find it to be a crippling force in your life? The American
Psychological Association defines anxiety as an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried
thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure and note that people with anxiety disorders
usually have recurring thoughts or concerns. They may avoid certain situations out of worry. They may
also have physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling, dizziness, or a rapid heartbeat. See more
information in the show notes.

Anxiety can manifest in many ways and range in levels of severity. Think about nervousness which a
musician may face before performing. Maybe someone might be a little nervous before giving a
presentation to a group of peers or strangers. Increased levels of anxiety might prevent a person from
leaving home for fear of disapproval from a stranger, they may even interpret someone's aloofness as
rejection or a quick 'hello' as an extremely stressful situation.

What might Stoic Philosophers have to say about anxiety as we think about it today? What solutions
might we find in ancient texts? Let's start with a recurring theme on this podcast and in Stoic texts – the
domain of control. We can ask ourselves how much control we may have in a given situation and
whether excessive worry can be productive. A healthy degree of worry or perhaps better put, concern,
can help us prepare and anticipate challenges we may face as we won't be completely caught off guard
and can properly handle adversity. Extreme worry, though, especially about things which are outside of
our control or largely outside of our control, doesn't seem to be a optimal approach toward life
especially if we are unwilling to take even minor or moderate risks which can lead us to worthwhile
ends and help build our character.

Can we take a breather and think about situations which trouble us and consider alternate perspectives,
really thinking about a problem and how we can make sense of it, perhaps solve it, be charitable in our
interpretations, have some self-confidence, and simply do our best when handling what may come?
Focusing on the process and not the result, not having an excessive fear of failure and just giving our
best effort with the tools we have?

We can work to focus on the present and not engage in deep rumination about how things may turn out,
focus on terrible outcomes, and simply take life as it comes. If we're to work on our virtues, our
foundation for living, we can transfer and apply skills in one area of life to another – we can be
courageous, humble, careful, brave, steadfast for example when the situation calls for it.

As I have said many times in this podcast, they may not be a simple cure to problems we face
especially if our patterns of behavior are life-long, we've experienced a high degreee of trauma, and/or
our personality is shaped in a certain way. However, I would encourage people not to have a defeated
attitude and consider some Stoic writings which can help improve one's mindset and better cope with
anxiety.

Let's look at some passages from Stoic writers starting with Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

In book seven, Marcus talks about anticipation of the future, how people can be disturbed simply by
thinking about what may happen or amidst uncertainty. He writes, “Do not let the future disturb you,
for you will arrive there, if you arrive, with the same reason you now apply to the present.”

Uncertainty, often mentioned in stoic texts, is a regular part of life that we can work on accepting – it's
quite often the case that we lack information, that we don't have complete or a large amount of control
over what may happen in our lives. Perhaps we'll be at the whims of fortune as Stoic writers would say,
maybe others' behaviors – something we can't totally control – will impact us greatly. Epictetus,
another Stoic writer, echoes the theme of acceptance surrounding uncertainty and making due with
what happens to the best of our ability by, as is written in his Discourses, imitating those who play at
dice, “Counters and dice are indifferent: how do I know what is going to turn up? My business is to use
what does turn up with dilligence and skill.”

In many ways, life is like many gambling games as we can do our best with given information, take
calculated risks, make good decisions, but ultimately outcomes – especially in the short-term, are often
outside of out control. We can fret about what may happen, panic, worry, be disturbed by the future as
Marcus writes, but a preferable approach can be attained through an attitude of acceptance and focusing
on the present.

Here's more on this from Marcus in book eight of his Meditations, “Do not disturb yourself by thinking
of the whole of your life. Do not let your thoughts at once embrace all the various troubles that you
may expect to befall you: but on every occasion ask yourself, what is there in this that is intolerable and
past bearing? For you will be ashamed to confess. In the next place, remember that neither the future
nor the past pains you, but only the present.”

While concern about the future may be associated with anxiety, our concerns are ultimately confined to
the present, the future is simply not here.

We can be mindful about our thoughts and work to quell them, to be more constructive with our
thoughts and refrain from excesivve worry. It may be hard to break patterns of thought, but it's not
impossible. Start with small steps and remind ourselves when our minds go racing that we ought to
refrain from unproductive worry perhaps by focusing on something else, being more social, talking
about concerns in a more constructive way with a trusted friend, engaging in a hobby, exercising,
listening to music...the choices are many and yours.

Marcus also writes, “If you are pained by any external thing, it is not the thing that disturbs you, but
your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgement now.” In book 11, he
continues on this theme talking about unhelpful or as he writes, abberant thoughts, “when you have
detected them, you should wipe them out and say on each occasion thus: this thought it not necessary.”

Stoic writers also encourage people to cultivate an attitude of resilience, making due with what happens
to us especially given all of the calamaties, the changes, which may come to pass – oh, how we can
view so many things as going wrong, sudden changes, the unexpected, may lead us to be extremely
anxious and freeze, not know what to do, and perhaps at the extremes result in a panic attack. How can
we prepare for these moments? Perhaps we can not see change as such a catastrophic thing and make
the best of what has happened, adjust to the present where possible or if the situation is too dire simply
exit rather than further increasing our stress. Maybe by changing our environments, the people we
associate with, and our bad habits can help reduce our anxiety. We can engage in some self-reflection
and really think about what is beneficial in our lives – might the juice be worth the squeeze? Might
Aunt Cathy, although she is a family member, be adding a net positive to our lives? Should we stay in
the relationship we no longer like? How about that job which is a significant drain on our lives? Can
we take action to try to improve a situation? Have we? Might we have an unrealistic hope that people
will change even though, time and time again, it hasn't been the case?

Marcus continues in book seven writing, “And why are you not altogether intent upon the right way of
making use of the things that happen to you? For then you will use them well, and they will be a
material for you to work on. Only attend to yourself and resolve to be a good man in every act you do
and remember look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up if you will ever
dig.”

Marcus closes this passage with a sense of optimism and seems to encourage self-esteem – for people
to think about their strengths, their good qualities, and not see themselves as helpless, as failures, as no
good. Even if we happen to slip up, react poorly to one situation, or not do well in one domain of life,
it's not reasonable to see ourselves as complete failures based on one element of life. We can even think
about failure in a different light – see it as a chance to improve and be grateful for recognizing that we
can improve rather than decieving ourselves and blaming others, the environment, being overly
entitled, and raging against the universe.

Hopefully you've found something helpful in some of my own thoughts about anxiety coupled with
wisdom from Stoic writers.

Visit my website at justinvacula.com where you can find links to my social media portals and see past
content on Soundcloud, YouTube, iTunes, or Stitcher. Support my work by becoming a monthly
supporter on Patreon or by making a Paypal donation, see the donate tab on my website. Share,
comment, like, subscribe, and leave a review. I really appreciate your support and feedback which
helps me grow my audience and keeps this project going.

You've been listening to the Stoic Philosophy Podcast - practical wisdom for everyday life.

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