What is the one unconventional piece of Stoic advice that has significantly improved your life?
Last Updated: 02.07.2025 14:50
I have been studying the philosophy of stoicism for a long time and the most unconventional thing I have come across so far is a life-changing and revolutionary quote from SENECA.
We pursue our dreams because we want to become more fulfilled and happy. We want to become happy because we think that after doing so much toil we deserve to be happy.
You not only read such a quote but live it. You never forget it. It becomes part of your everyday life.
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What is that quote?
I came back from the dead after reading this SENECA quote.
During my theology study, I read hundreds of books from ancient to modern religions and their philosophies and outlook on life.
After years of practicing this strange piece of advice, I gradually realized that this quote was not unconventional and strange at all but at its core, it was the truest wisdom of stoics.
Why?
You will not always get what you want. Sometimes, things get out of our control. You may not get your desired thing even by giving in all the world you have.
We align our happiness and satisfaction with our actions and their results. We feel proud of ourselves for putting in effort to be happy every day, each day.
When we keep looking, things gradually open themselves to us and we are born again after every new discovery or even after reading a life-changing quote or a book.
But instead of commending, feeling proud and happy, SENECA suggests that we should laugh.
But first, how to judge a revolutionary, unconventional and life-changing quote:
It may look simple to you but let’s break it down.
During my study of stoicism which is a philosophy of action, romanticizing suffering and virtuous wisdom. Wisdom which truly helps us to live with conviction and action without giving much importance to our suffering.
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It gives meaning to your actions. Don’t underestimate this one. Giving meaning means it drives you so crazy that you keep on doing your actions without focusing on results, failures and even success.
what do you do in this situation? You curse yourself. You feel down and broke. You crush yourself with the burden of doing something wrong.
Because that’s not happiness and you will not always achieve results. You will not always get something out of your efforts.
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It drives you to a dark abyss where you comprehend its meaning through your own experiences and then come back to the light on your own.
It shakes you to the core but makes you more stable afterward.
SENECA says: “Laugh on yourself”.
You have made yourself hostile by not doing something wrong. You have enslaved yourself by aligning your happiness with your actions and results.
You only observe a broken part but don't understand its significance in the long chain of life.
But you feel all of this because you consider yourself a significant being. You think of yourself as someone who did all and still got nothing.
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LOVE.
Just get up and get something done because no matter what, you should not stop your virtuous actions which are a conviction of a well-lived life.
My outlook on the very nature of life and myself completely changed and everything seemed to change a lot.
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It challenges your existing beliefs and outlook on life.
It makes you more satisfied and fulfilled.
I read 30+ books and 1000+ quotes on stoicism and the philosophies of pioneer Stoic philosophers. And the most unconventional quote by a stoic is this:
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It completely changes you from head to toe.
Step back. Draw back. Stop right there and free yourself of this burden.
You regret doing this and doing that. You don't feel gratitude toward life and you see the very nature of life as crushing instead of fulfilling and satisfactory.
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And the quote of SENECA checks all the boxes and leaves us in astonishment.
“We often believe that we are so significant that everything has to go our way and according to our thinking. What SENECA suggests is “Draw back further and laugh”.
It was so straight to the point and harsh that it seemed a completely new perspective but it was actually the greatest unconventional advice I ever listened to.
It completely changes your perspective about yourself and frees you from a huge burden you are carrying on your shoulders every day without any reason.
The complete quote goes like this:
And most important of all, the more we live this quote by applying it to practical life through our experiences, the more we understand its depth and how helpful it is.
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It was such an unconventional and strange advice that I kept thinking about it for days. It completely shredded the skin of my thinking and gave rebirth to my thoughts.
This quote completely changes our perspective, it challenges our existing beliefs that you will always get what you strive for, it completely makes us hopeless by pinpointing the straight truth but slowly makes us someone who may not need help in difficult times.
And those dreams can not come true without our actions, efforts and consistency. We are afraid of making a mistake and we curse ourselves if do any.
Life exists in moments and you should live every moment. This chain of moments is the very nature of life which is complete and whole not broken and incomplete.
We have to keep moving while laughing at ourselves because we are not that much significant.
Yes, we consider ourselves significant. We get up every day and go out there to make the most out of life. We consider ourselves important because we act.
We act to derive results. We want results to be driven because we want to become better in every portion of life. We want to become better because we have dreams.
Well, drawback and laugh because that is not the truth. The truth is that not everything will go your way and you don't have to worry about it.
You may sometimes give up on your dreams because that is just not meant to happen.
It makes us realize that it’s not always what we expect but still, we have to keep going without needing any external force or motivation because our inner voice tells us that neither this is our point to stop or get disappointed nor anything should be our stop.