A 2500-Year-Old Stoic Habit to Become Happier and Feel More Fulfilled
Ancient but timeless wisdom for the modern world
The growling of my stomach lulls my typing but the exciting anticipation of my upcoming meal spurs me on.
As I munch into the steaming Indian bread, boiled lentils, and eggs, every morsel melts in my mouth like mana. “Hmmm! Thank God for food!”, I grin to myself.
But there’s a catch.
Nothing about that meal was special — it was the same dinner I’ve been eating regularly for years. More so, my daily lunch tastes way better than the voluminous dinner.
The difference was it was my weekly fasting day.
24 hours of no food = A bland meal turns into a Maharaja’s banquet.
The Counterintuitive Truth About Happiness
We think suffering is the opposite of happiness — this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Suffering is part of happiness — the necessary precondition for happiness to even exist.
Say we eradicated every form of suffering from the world. Would we be happy?
Yes, initially. But as our hedonistic adaptation kicks in, we’d get bored and the utopian world would become the new normal.
The high of winning a lottery or the low of meeting with a terrible accident fades — within a few months or years, your happiness levels go back to baseline.
It’s only when we suffer that we feel grateful for the things that make us happy.
It’s only when we are deprived of something that we understand its value.
Lamenting the loss of a loved one you used to bicker with. The watery gruel that’s mana to a peasant after a day of back-bending work. Chugging down a bottle of cold water with parched lips.
Or a simple meal of Indian bread, lentils, and boiled eggs after 24-hours of water fasting.
The Ancient (And Immeasurably Wise) Stoics Knew This
Stoicism, a 300 BC Greek philosophy, is a goldmine of timeless wisdom — put together by some of the wisest men to have walked the planet.
Across the ages, the exercises and habits they’ve invented have and continue to provide millions with a simple framework for living an amazing life.
One such exercise is voluntary suffering — deliberately putting yourself through discomfort so you can appreciate what you already have. As Seneca says,
“Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: “Is this the condition that I feared?”
It is precisely in times of immunity from care that the soul should toughen itself beforehand for occasions of greater stress, and it is while Fortune is kind that it should fortify itself against her violence.
In days of peace the soldier performs maneuvers, throws up earthworks with no enemy in sight, and wearies himself by gratuitous toil, in order that he may be equal to unavoidable toil.
If you would not have a man flinch when the crisis comes, train him before it comes.”
Through regular doses of self-inflicted suffering, you gradually elevate your baseline of happiness and keep hedonistic adaptation at bay:
- Regular Cold Showers. Nothing teaches you to step out of your comfort zone better than this—withering the torrent of chilly water while knowing cozy-hot water is within your hand’s reach.
- Fasting. Be it intermittent fasting or 24 hours once a week, integrate some style of fasting into your lifestyle. Every religion and culture advocates some or other form of fasting.
- Schedule a “no-limits” workout. Once every fortnight or month, have a workout where you refuse to stop till you cross all your limits. A 20-rep squat leg day or a deadlift marathon is my go-to.
- Enroll in uncomfortable activities. Public speaking turns my bowels into water. But I joined a Toastmasters club — a weekly dose of nerve-wracking discomfort. With time, you’ll get acclimatized and get comfortable with the activity.
- Sleep on the floor. Not every day, but maybe once a week or fortnight. If that’s too extreme, use a thinner and harder mattress.
- Abstain from alcohol or cigarettes for a while. Depending on your existing frequency, the cold-turkey duration could range from a fortnight to 6 months or even a year. You can always get back to them if you still want to.
- Heat Exposure. Sit in a sauna with nothing to distract you. Grind through the heat. Live in a tropical country? Switch off the car AC now and then.
Think This Is Masochism?
Then think again.
Voluntary suffering breeds 5 crucial qualities — humility, resilience, gratitude, patience, and discipline.
Each of them is crucial for a life of true peace and happiness.
Periodically relinquishing some comfort will train you to be able to do the things that are tough.
To be able to say no to things that are hard to say no to.
To be able to be the person you want to be.
“The more voluntary suffering you build into your life, the less involuntary suffering will affect your life.”
— Tim Ferriss
Also, the examples I mentioned are nothing. Seneca used to subject himself to abject poverty for a few days every month. Cato the younger was even more remarkable.
- Strutting around Rome in weird clothing so people would laugh at him.
- Walking barefoot and bareheaded in heat and rain.
- Taunting his appetite and semi-starving himself through a rationed diet.
How extreme you want to go with the practice is up to you — start small, reap the benefits, and adjust as you go.
Short-term suffering for long-term happiness.
Seems like an amazing deal to me.