A home where everyone is yelling, arguing, and hyper-critical of one another is neither healthy nor conducive to maximizing the limited time family members have together under one roof.
Parents, before you know it, your kids will fly the nest.
Spouses, before you know it, the incessant worrying will destroy your bond.
Bringing stoicism into your daily interactions within the family will result in a marriage where spousal attraction, family joy, interpersonal respect, and a healthy desire for life will remain for decades. Also, you’ll create an environment where your children will want to come home to visit their parents when older.
Control What You Can, Let the Rest Be What It Will…
Focus is important in life.
Where you focus your attention is where you send your energy, and given that we have a finite amount of energy and time to spend, it’s important we treat it like we would money in a budget - intentionally.
The same goes for your wife and children; a child should not be mad that it’s raining outside, and your wife should not get upset at the fact that the world is not what she wanted it to be for her family - these things are beyond our control, but our reaction to them - that’s something each of us has total power over.
Introductory Works to Stoicism
The Enchiridion - Epictetus (My personal favorite, this link is the abridged version)
Meditations - Marcus (The most popular from what I’ve seen)
In most homes, there’s a relentless pressure to perform and keep up with:
Status (House, Cars, Clothes. etc.)
The Times (Politics, Social Justice, etc.)
Achievements (Trophy kids, Honor Roll, Titles at work)
Everyone wants to control the narrative, and because of this pressure to perform, everyone is upset at their perceived inability to keep up. Here’s the missing piece: you don’t need to play in these Reindeer games.
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