Stoicism is an ancient philosophy that was established in ancient Greece by Zeno of Citium which flourished throughout Greece and later that of the Roman Empire. Those dealing with trauma often have a hard time dealing with every day life and especially healing spiritually, emotionally and mentally from traumatic events.
The same applies to those living with chronic health conditions. Those with chronic health conditions often deal with a lot, ranging from rejection, taunting, criticism and even bullying from others as well as dealing with the health problems themselves.
Mentally, spiritually and emotionally it is difficult to deal with chronic health conditions. There are often a lot of setbacks as it takes some time to find the root causes and treat them. Also it takes some time for people to genuinely accept it as well, either on a personal level or for those around with you. Stocisim is a practical philosophy for those dealing with tough issues such as chronic health conditions.
By using stoicism and accepting your circumstances when dealing with chronic health conditions it allows oneself to become more objective and look for more ways to improve their health but also their life.
In some cases, of which I have dealt with personally it can be easy for one to become bitter, angry and misanthropic due to the mistreatment of those with chronic health conditions.
Stoic meditations, reflections and philosophical ideas can often be combined with other spiritual or physical exercises to help heal emotionally as well as mentally and spiritually from traumatic experiences when dealing with chronic health conditions.
Despite the unfortunate circumstances of chronic health conditions it doesn’t have to ruin someone’s life and their outlook of life. In fact through dealing with hardships we often discover (or rediscover) the best in ourselves and become a more well round and better person because of it.
Stoicweek is a great place to start to learn and apply the foundations of stoicism to your life. From there you can start find more books and online resources to help you. I find the daily morning and evening meditation to be very helpful.
The morning meditation entails visually planning out your day and seeing what may go wrong, right or what to expect. During the day it is helpful to reflect on some stoic ideals (taught in stoicweek) to enhance and better yourself. At the end of the day you do a meditation as well on what went right, wrong and how to improve upon it the next day. By doing this on a daily basis you can consistently improve your life and learn from your mistakes.
