You Must Play It Like A Game | Daily Stoic

Life may have big challenges in store for us. What’s more certain, as we talked about recently, is the ‘petty hazards of the day.’ We may find ourselves thrust in some crisis–a big political moment or some emergency that unfolds in front of us on the street. We will definitely experience traffic and obnoxious people and temptation and burnout.

It’s important we understand that whether the moment is big or small, the Stoic is supposed to respond the same way. That is to say: Calmly. Courageously. With the common good in mind.

In the email we mentioned earlier, we drew on the work of the novelist Jean Webster, who remarked that it may well be easier to respond to crisis or tragedy than it is to respond to the ordinary or mundane. Because we know what’s expected of us, because people are watching, because we understand the stakes.

But again, Stoicism isn’t just about being great in the big moments but also great in the little moments. And perhaps one way to do that is to remove the idea of ‘stakes’ entirely, to see all these situations as equal opportunities for you to practice what you preach–no matter who is or isn’t watching.

“I am going to pretend that all life is just a game which I must play as skillfully and fairly as I can,” Webster has her character say. “If I lose, I am going to shrug my shoulders and laugh—also if I win.” Epictetus himself said that the philosopher was like a skilled ballplayer, they knew how to play the game. No one was better at this than Socrates–who treated life’s little moments and its big ones just the same. He was one with his philosophy, whether he was facing a frustrating person on the street or a potential death sentence. He took it all very seriously…and yet not too seriously at all. He wasn’t playing to win…but to get the best out of himself, always.

That’s the Stoic way.