Are You Using Stoicism to Numb Out? | with Erick Cloward
About this episode
Stoicism is meant to help you master your emotions. There's a version of it that just teaches you to avoid them.
In this conversation I joined Erick Cloward on the Stoic Coffee Break to talk about "stoic bypassing" (Jules Evans' term): using the philosophy to suppress hard feelings instead of feeling them. We both grew up learning to push emotions down, so it got personal.
We cover the difference between suppression and reappraisal, alexithymia, why the Let Them Theory is thinner than it looks, how the manosphere funnels every emotion through anger, the case for voluntary discomfort, and a reframe from Epictetus that means you can never lose a first date.
This first aired on Erick's show, the Stoic Coffee Break. Go and follow him.
Erick Cloward / Stoic Coffee Break
Podcast: https://stoic.coffee
Original episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5oBAAeiX5x1aMCqoahP3Dv?si=6av80YqGSmeIMG7wdTjGbg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stoic.coffee
Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.co
The Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com
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