Crisis? What crisis!?
… or why stoicism is good
… or why stoicism is good
Think of the following movie outlines: A villain threatens to destroy the world but James Bond comes and kills him before he can do so. Another one: Lord Voldemort is the personified evil who threatens to make the whole world his slave but then Harry Potter comes along and defeats him. Or yet another one: There is this cruel space Alien that multiplies through transplanting its embryos into human bodies and threatens to wipe out humanity but Ripley arrives on the scene and defeats it.
Those outlines sound pretty boring, right!? That is because one crucial story element is missing: the crisis.
The crisis is the moment of highest tension, when everybody in the cinema becomes completely silent because this is the moment when the hero is on the verge of being defeated. Simply put: without a moment of crisis, there is no suspense, no drama and ultimately no good story.
Nobody said it would be easy
Crises happen in every good story and to every single hero out there. At one point on their journey a crisis hits them severely; often so hard that it looks like it could end tragically for the hero. And sometimes it does. In fact, the crisis is the pivotal moment in a hero’s story. It’s the make or break moment. Only a deep crisis teaches the hero the right skills to be prepared for the final battle against evil forces.
Like in every good story, there are also crises in every life. They happen. Inevitably. If you try hard to avoid them, you probably don’t do anything too interesting.
The higher you aim, the bigger adventures you embark on, the more crises there will be. Some will be small, and a few will be really big. Some of them will be purely age related. (the most prominent one is called midlife-crisis) Most other crises are situational, and some crises can be existential and very very painful. Nobody ever said it would be easy.
Astronauts and stoicism
So now that we know that crises will happen, we need to know how to react to them like a hero. The good news is that there is one thing that is always and completely in our control: ourselves.
Think about it. What is worse? A) Being in a very difficult situation or B) Being in a very difficult situation and in a mental state of despair. The answer is easy I guess. To restate; difficult moments and crises will happen but the way you react to them is completely your choice.
See, the issue with crises is that people tend to make ill-fated judgements and take actions they wouldn’t under normal circumstances. Research shows that the emotional state of anxiety, worry and anger that normally happens in a crisis, affects our decision-making process negatively. Worrying reduces thinking power and negative emotions often drive us to premature closure. Not good.
This is why martial arts professionals focus as much on mental training as on physical training. This is why astronauts get trained extremely hard to stay calm in crisis situations. Both of these groups just cannot afford to panic in difficult situations. Every mistake could be fatal.
So how do heroes handle those stressful, anxiety laden crisis situations? The answer is: very stoically.
Stoicism is an ancient school of philosophy that has been with us for more than two thousand years. One of the key teachings in stoicism is to keep self-control and objectivity in critical situations. Stoicism teaches to emotionally detach yourself from any situation and change your perception in a way that you only consider the hard facts.
I am not saying that you should completely eliminate your emotions before making any decision. Only try to eliminate the ones, which blur your decision-making; the ones, which lead to anger, rage or apathy. With a clear and unbiased view you can make rational decisions even in times of the biggest adversity.
How to foster stoicism
Can we learn to be more stoic? Yes, there are a couple of ways to foster stoicism:
Next time you face a crisis, know that any decision you made driven by anxiety and in the heat of the moment will be a flawed one. In those moments try to control your emotions and nerves and definitely ignore the panic of others. Revert to the momentary situation and focus only on what can be controlled. If you can, delay a decision until things cooled down.
Do the following: Step back and try to see the situation as objective as you can and try to see the positive aspects of the crisis.
Another way is to defeat crisis with logic. Be cool about the things you cannot change and only focus on the ones, which are under your control. Ask yourself if you or anybody else can be physically harmed or die from what is happening. If the answer is no, the situation is not all that bad and I am sure there are ways to overcome the crisis.
Then go a step further and regard the crisis as a gift. Crisis is derived from the ancient Greek word “Krisis” which means a ”vitally important or decisive state of things, a point at which change must come, for better or worse.”
Crises are always about change. Use them for drastic and, sometimes, long-overdue changes in times of a crisis. Changes, you wouldn’t make under normal circumstances. You have nothing to lose. Often crises force us to act on things we put on the long bench.
Don´t let a crisis go to waste but try to see an opportunity in every crisis.
Of stoic heroes
Think of some stoic heroes from film history.
Yoda. Even when the universe is on the brink of going down and the attacks of the empire are getting more severe and frequent, he resists personal revenge and takes wise and analytical decisions. And he succeeds in the end.
Think of the third instalment of the Indiana Jones series: ‘Indiana Jones and the last crusade’. The story centres around Indiana’s frantic hunt for the holy grail as well as his difficult relationship with his father, played by Sean Connery, who is an eccentric but stoic character. In the climactic finale, he sees his son Indiana desperately trying to reach the Holy Grail in a collapsing temple, which could be their certain death. Indy’s father stays calm and convinces his son to let go of the grail; and by doing so he saves his son’s life.
Think of other stoic heroes like Agatha Christie’s master detectives Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Think of silent movie star Buster Keaton or Atticus Finch in “To kill a mockingbird” or Gromit from Wallace & Gromit. They all have in common that they do not panic in tough situations and keep their cool. And this is why they succeed.
Take Clint Eastwood, the lonesome and laconic cowboy in Sergio Leone’s Dollar trilogy. He keeps his cool no matter what happens and he is the one in ‘the Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ who succeeds and gets the treasure. Since he is not driven by pure revenge like his opponent Tuco or evil greed like the villain Angel Eyes, he gets neither shot nor left tied on a remote desert grave, but, instead, rides into the sunset with the gold chest.
Often heroes make tough decisions in a moment of crisis against their life dream if it turns out to be inconsistent with their value system.
Exactly that kind of crisis decision happens in the movie Tootsie in which the unemployed actor Michael, disguises himself as a woman to embark on a movie careers he has always dreamed of. The Dustin Hoffman character Michael reaches the point where he has to choose between what he always wanted and dreamed of — being a movie star — and what he really needs — his big love Julie. He can’t have both. He gives up on his movie career, exposes himself as a cheat and goes for Julie; though he doesn´t even know if she ever will return his feelings. An uncertain outcome never hinders a hero from taking the right decision.
Crises are nice little helpers
So, go out there and greet your obstacles with optimism and pragmatism. Be aware that they will be only little bumps on the long way to fulfil your vision. Life is a marathon not a sprint, so do not waste all your energy on this one crisis.
Crises can be nice little helpers as they not only test your resilience but also show you a way of how not to do something. Even more so, they can lead you to a new and unexpected way on your exciting journey called life.
You can either get bitter or better; choose to get better. Be stoic and grateful next time you encounter a crisis.
Think about it. If you only take advantage of the opportunities that arise in your life, you might fall short of getting where you really want to be. You also have to take advantage of the adversities and turn them into positives.
Think of Salman Rushdie’s words: “How do you defeat terrorism? Don’t be terrorized.”
Heroes face their terror with utmost stoicism. And so, should you.
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For the impatient and hurried
Three steps to deal with crises:
1. Emotional detachment
Ignore the panic and your emotions and focus only on what can be really controlled. If possible, do not make important decisions in the heat of the moment.
2. Apply logic
Analyse carefully if the consequences can be really all that bad or if you just momentarily blow them out of proportion. If no physical harm can happen, it is normally not all that bad.
3. Don’t let crises go to waste
Crises are good opportunities to do drastic and long-overdue changes. Do them. You have nothing to lose
