Stoicism

3 min read

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength. - Marcus Aurelius

I do not deem myself to be an expert on stoicism or even talk about it at a capacity whereby I can be said to be knowledgeable about it. However, I do want to talk about it in the perspective that I see life in or rather, in the limited way by which I utilise this philosophy in mine. Or perhaps, sometimes the failure of which.

Let’s begin.

The semester has indeed finally ended. And the next year will be for the most part; highly, highly uncertain (but before that I have to survive the remaining of this year first). I simply do not have any sort of an inkling as to what will happen or how things will turn out. But I guess in that respect it is going to be exciting. Or nerve-wracking. Whichever way you want to look at it. I have some plans laid out for those who are not privy to this information prior to this. Not new certainly, but are starting to come to light, and some closer to fruition. But perhaps, even that is too soon to say:

1. A photography project (long form portrait series, hope that museum replies to me soon they replied, “Yes.” hehe)
2. Pseudo-business plans (anthropologically-focused block-chain integrated micro-financing project and a collaboration with Hakim and Matt)
3. Overseas Entrepreneurship Programme (if I do get it)
4. Internships in Europe (currently sourcing in Sweden, if I do get one, maybe Pascal can help me with that as well in Germany)

So, that’s about it I think. We all have our own fair share of troubles but we always have to move forward. Don’t get me wrong, it gets really hard sometimes. I do not need to go into details about how hard things can get.

I really do like this Swedish quote I found mid of last year (more than 1.5 years ago):

Det blir som det blir.

It literally means “it will be like it will be”. Sounds a bit negative but it is very Stoic in its nature. The English interpretation is, “We must take things as we find them”. Being that, we make plans not to make circumstances fit those plans, but make plans to fit those circumstances as aptly put George S. Patton in War as I knew It (1947).

Keep busy, be productive. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop (speaking of which, I now have 8 rolls of Kodak Tri-X, 5 rolls of Cinestill 800T, and an incoming 5 rolls of Kodak Portra 160, 5 rolls of Cinestill BwXX and 5 more rolls of Cinestill 800T. Mmmm. So goood).

That is not to say to keep busy with things that will make you regret doing the next day just because you decided to do it for the sake of doing it, to fit in or whatever lame excuse you are using to justify yourself. The moment you have to bend yourself to justify your actions, take a step back, then two, then turn around, and walk home buddy. Just go on home.

Just putting it out there. You really have to be blatant sometimes.