{"id":261,"date":"2019-05-21T15:34:30","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T19:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/?p=261"},"modified":"2020-02-03T12:35:34","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T17:35:34","slug":"the-management-of-stress-and-the-stoics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/the-management-of-stress-and-the-stoics\/","title":{"rendered":"The Management of Stress and the Stoics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Note: This article was originally published as part of the Q3 2019 issue of the WFCC Newsletter and is reproduced here with permission. See original: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/wfcc\/q3_2019.pdf\">http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/wfcc\/q3_2019.pdf<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dealing with stress is an integral part of the modern human experience. We all struggle with health-related issues, financial difficulties, family disagreements, and many others. There are a number of negative effects associated with high levels of stress, from headaches and depression to even physical health issues and increased recovery times. Therefore, it is crucial to have healthy and productive coping mechanisms to manage our stress.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a brilliant TED Ed video, Massimo Pigliucci discusses the Stoic philosophy and its origins in the teachings of Zeno of Cyprus when he became shipwrecked off the coast of Athens and lost all of his wealth and possessions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While today the term stoic has developed its own meaning as an adjective to describe someone who endures difficulties while remaining calm and collected or someone who rarely shows emotion in the face of adversity. However, the original philosophy goes much deeper, and is in fact much more applicable in our daily lives to help recognize and handle stress.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhile we may not always have control over the events affecting us, we can have control over how we approach things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This statement concisely summarizes the Stoic philosophy. But while this captures the essence of Stoicism, how can we actually apply it to our lives?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pigliucci describes the four core tenets of Stoicism that we can follow:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Practical wisdom \u2014 the ability to navigate complex situations in a logical, informed, and calm manner;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Temperance \u2014 the exercise of self-restraint and moderation in all aspects of life;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Justice \u2014 treating others with fairness even when they have done wrong; and<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Courage \u2014 not just in extraordinary circumstances, but in facing daily challenges with clarity and integrity.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Often people conflate Stoicism with having a nonchalant attitude towards life. However, that\u2019s an incorrect characterization. Stoicism is not about discounting or not caring about issues, but rather it is about understanding that these issues should not cause unhealthy levels of stress. Rather, we should focus our efforts on matters which we can actually address.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In fact, a nonchalant attitude can be quite counterproductive. Stress is an effective motivator for action. Modern psychologists describe this through the stress-productivity curve, or more formally known as the Yerkes-Dodson Law.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/stress-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-265\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/stress-1-300x154.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"154\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/stress-1-300x154.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/stress-1-768x395.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/stress-1.jpg 913w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><i>Fig. 1 \u2013 Stress vs. performance curve, adapted from the Yerkes-Dodson Law (Image: Heath, 201<\/i><em>9)\u00a0(PS. I first saw an image like this in a class presentation HU3900_D2019, but since have not been able to find the original source. I searched for a similar image, and found this here:\u00a0https:\/\/slideplayer.com\/slide\/16338179\/)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps this response arises from evolutionary pressure. Stress may have been an action-motivator to our evolutionary ancestors. During primitive life, actions were likely conducted over much larger timescales, especially given the exponential increase in pace in our modern lives. Consequently, stress arising from situations such as limited food availability or lack of social contact, may have pushed early humans to act, potentially providing an evolutionary advantage to a stress response.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Therefore, in a well-managed manner, stress provides an excellent way to push ourselves to do better \u2014 just the right amount can make us more productive and compel ourselves to address the challenges that we face.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, know and recognize stressors before they become stressful. If you can recognize that certain matters are out of your control, you can begin to address those that are \/in\/ your control. That is the first step in being able to act calmly to actually address those factors and reduce the stress.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By incorporating elements of Stoicism into your own personal philosophy, you can become self aware and more conscious of how external events affect your emotions and mental state. It then becomes much easier to deal with those changes and develop healthier stress coping mechanisms. Let me end with an interesting thought to ponder: \u201cSuffering stems not from the events in our lives, but from our judgements about them.\u201d \u2014 Epictetus<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dossier<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe Philosophy of Stoicism,\u201d by Massimo Pigliucci, June 19, 2017.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/ed.ted.com\/lessons\/the-philosophy-of-stoicism-massimo-pigliucci.\u00a0<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is an animated video lesson explaining the history and general philosophy of Stoicism in an entertaining story format.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAre You Too Stressed to Be Productive? Or Not Stressed Enough?\u201d By Francesca Gino, April 14, 2016.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/hbr.org\/2016\/04\/are-you-too-stressed-to-be-productive-or-not-stressed-enough.\u00a0<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is an article from the Harvard Business Review that provides some practical advice to improve your performance from related stress.<\/span><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Note: This article was originally published as part of the Q3 2019 issue of the WFCC Newsletter and is reproduced here with permission. See original: http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/wfcc\/q3_2019.pdf Dealing with stress is an integral part of the modern human experience. We all struggle with health-related issues, financial difficulties, family disagreements, and many others. There are a number [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":534,"href":"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions\/534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sahilnawab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}