Do You Leave the Ring Because You Got Hit? [Academy]

Do You Leave the Ring Because You Got Hit?

Epictetus was a Stoic, a member of a special group of Greek Philosophers who believed  people needed to be able to endure pain or hardship without showing their feelings or complaining. He was born into slavery and lived in Rome until his banishment when he went to live in Northwestern Greece for the rest of his life. Like all Stoics, Epictetus taught that all external events are beyond our control, therefore we should accept whatever happens to us calmly and without passion or concern. He also said that individuals are responsible for their own actions which they can examine and control through self-discipline. As with all Stoics he believed that we can only rely on our own responses to outside events, even when we can’t control those events.

Stoics liked to use boxing references when teaching about resilience and determination. They often refer to fighting because it's what they knew best. They wrote, for example, “that unbruised prosperity is weak and easy to defeat in the ring, but a man who has been in a constant feud with misfortunes acquires a skin calloused by suffering." The man who is calloused and bruised, he says, “fights all the way to the ground and never gives up.”

Epictetus would want to know what kind of boxer you are, if you leave the ring when you get hit or if you stay and fight? Getting hit is the nature of the sport of boxing! Would that stop you from continuing to fight?

What kinds of things stop you from achieving your goal? How big does an obstacle have to be to get you to stop pursuing it? Does it take a little obstacle to stop you or are you one who never quits? If something gets in your way, are you resilient enough and determined enough to find a way around that obstacle? Do you look for as many options as possible so you can stay on track to your goal or do you just quit when things get tough?