The Little Book of Stoicism

Practice 8

Voluntary Discomfort

“But neither a bull nor a noble-spirited man comes to be what he is all at once; he must undertake hard winter training, and prepare himself, and not propel himself rashly into what is not appropriate to him.” – Epictetus

Let’s undertake some hard winter training. The Stoics took negative visualization a step further, instead of only visualizing bad stuff, they actually practiced it!

They advised to occasionally practice getting uncomfortable in order to be better off in the future. The goal isn’t to punish yourself with a whip or something, the goal is to train endurance and self-control. This training will quieten your appetite for material possessions, increase the appreciation for what you have, and prepare you to deal effectively when uncomfortable situations actually arise.

Basically, you practice getting comfortable with what you would now describe as uncomfortable.

Let’s look at three forms of voluntary discomfort:

1. Temporary Poverty: Seneca recommends spending a few days a month to live as if impoverished, “Be content with the scantiest and cheapest food, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: Is this the condition that I feared?”

Be creative with this idea: Drink only water for a day. Eat for less than $3 a day for a week. Try fasting for a day or two. Wear old and dirty clothes. Spend a month on a tight budget. If you’re hardcore, spend a night under a bridge.

2. Get Yourself in Uncomfortable Situations: Take Cato the Younger as an example. He was a senator in the late Roman Republic and an avid student of Stoic philosophy. And he practiced voluntary discomfort like no other. He strolled around Rome in uncommon clothing so people laughed at him. He walked barefoot and bareheaded in heat and rain. And he put himself on a rationed diet.

You can do such things, too. For example, underdress for cold weather while knowing that you’ll feel uncomfortably cold. Pretend your bed is full of spiders and sleep a night on the floor. Imagine there’s no hot water and take a cold shower. Pretend your car isn’t working and use public transport.

In the army, they know this sort of training and say: “If it ain’t raining, it ain’t training.” Go for a toughness run because it’s raining.

3. Purposefully Forgo Pleasure: Instead of getting in uncomfortable situations, just forgo pleasures. Pass up an opportunity to eat a cookie—not because it’s unhealthy, but because you want to improve your self-control and experience some discomfort. Choose not to watch your favorite sports team’s game. Or choose not to go partying with your friends.

This may sound anti-pleasure but it’s actually training you to become the person who can do what others dread doing and resist doing what others can’t resist doing.

Remember what Epictetus says, that you must undergo hard winter training to become who you want to be. Train now when it’s still easy, and you’ll be prepared for when it gets tough.

Again, this isn’t about punishing yourself; it’s about expanding your comfort zone, getting more comfortable in uncomfortable situations, and improving your self-discipline, resilience, and confidence. You train yourself to do the things that are tough. And you train yourself to say no to the things that are hard to say no to.

Lastly, this is not about eliminating all comfort from your life. Keep all the comfort you want—a cozy bed, delicious food, hot showers, warm clothes—just go without those things sometimes.