8 Stoic Maxims to Get You Through Midterms
Image Courtesy: The Guardian
The dreadful hour is upon us. Midterms. Group projects, exams and paper deadlines are right around the corner. Since our minutes are especially precious right now, I’ll try to make this one quick.
Taking care of ourselves is vital during this period, and social media is inundated with self-care methods that can better our physical and mental health. However, the modern age has largely ignored philosophy’s place in self-improvement. Human development really hasn’t changed all that much in the past two thousand years. We’re cognitively more similar to an Ancient Roman citizen than we’d probably like to believe. With that being said, philosophy remains a useful tool to guide us through hardships and, more generally, instruct our way of life.
Stoicism is an ancient school of thought that emerged around the third century in Greece and Rome. The philosophy is hard to classify in a few sentences, but I'll just say that it stresses personal discipline and realism. A primary Stoic practice is meditating on maxims – short phrases that communicate profound insights. The Stoics were, like I, suckers for a good quote. Here are eight Stoic maxims, courtesy of the homies Seneca and Epictetus, that might help you get through midterm week and beyond:
“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?”
In addition to being a sucker for a good quote, I’m a sucker for wasting time. I know what I’m capable of doing, and I’ve learned that delaying action toward my personal “best” is a tremendous waste. Whether it be a physical fitness goal or a midterm paper you’re putting off until the day before, the time is now to give 100% and get it done to the best of your abilities.
“No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”
Any change is simply the result of action over time. A simple act today, like planting a fig tree or rereading the notes that you took while half-asleep all semester, will blossom into something greater than itself tomorrow. It just takes time.
“It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult.”
Dare to venture. I’m the type of student who rewards himself with two hour breaks after I put the heading on a paper. I’m well aware that this behavior only has negative consequences, but I somehow always find a way. Start early and take action often. Things will be much easier.
“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”
Here is perhaps the most important Stoic lesson – the distinction between what you can and cannot control. As students, we are largely in control of the results that we produce. Your effort, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn are all within your power. Make the best of your capabilities. And hey, if the end result of an exam or a paper is unsatisfactory, take it as it is. You can’t control the professor.
“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.”
For a Stoic, the obstacle is the way. Difficulties are the cause of improvement. Engaging in something difficult each day will better your mind just as working out everyday betters the body. Leg day might not be every day, but mind day certainly is. Don’t skip leg day and don’t skip mind day!
“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
We’ve all done it. The night before an exam, you look at the slides and, closing your laptop, assure yourself that it’s all common knowledge, well aware of the fate that awaits you. The Stoic isn’t afraid to look foolish or unknowledgeable. Admitting that you don’t know something shows more strength than this self-righteous game of reassurance.
“Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.”
Avoid simply memorizing for an exam. Internalizing class material without applying it elsewhere is like an actor who knows his lines but is silent on stage. It doesn’t do much good for anybody.
“No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself.”
Adversity is an opportunity for improvement. Exams are opportunities for you to prove what you know. Likewise, papers are opportunities for you to show the ideas you have. Take this midterm season as an opportunity for growth and proving yourself.
If you found any of these quips helpful, check out the Daily Stoic. Or don’t. I can’t control what you do. Crush midterms!
Strike Out,
Writer: Shane Stanton
Editors: Kimani Krienke, Will Kennedy, Mary Clare Cameron
Writing Director: David Kramer
Blog Director: Helenna Xu
Notre Dame
