The Little Book of Stoicism

Chapter 8

Situational Practices:

How to Handle Yourself When Other People Challenge You?

The most difficult and frequent challenges we face in everyday life are other people.

Every day, there’s at least one annoying person who tries to push your buttons. That reckless driver, the barefaced secretary, the mindless skater body, or the nagging little brother.

Now we can’t get rid of these people. We have a life. We work with people. We have family and friends. And most importantly, we have a social duty. Stoic philosophy demands to help others and to be concerned with the wellbeing of all mankind.

Remember, we should treat other people as relatives as we’re all citizens of the same world. We must contribute some service to the community. We’re social because we cannot exist without one another. And doing good to others benefits ourselves first and foremost.

As Marcus says, fulfilling our social duties will give you the best chance at living a good life.

But other people can be so nerve-wracking:

People lie to our face.

People insult us.

People hurt our feelings.

People cheat us.

People steal from us.

People annoy us.

So how can we preserve our tranquility while fulfilling our social duties and interacting with other people? That’s what the following practices and strategies are all about.