7 Stoic Strategies To Deal With Jerks

Ancient Rome was not a nice place. Like the world today, it was filled with jerks, it was filled with liars, it was filled with crooks, it was filled with obnoxious people, it was filled with annoying people. And by the way, it's always been this way, and it always will be. But the good news is The stoics have some timeless strategies for dealing with this. For not just putting up with them, but finding a way to appreciate other people, to get along well with other people and do good for other people. And that's what we're gonna talk about in today's episode. Stoic strategies for dealing with jerks and assholes. What's the best response when you meet someone who's a jerk, when you meet someone who's rude, when you you meet someone who's awful, when you meet someone who's annoying? Well, two thousand years ago, Marcus Realised in his meditation, he tells us how to think about it and what to do about it. He says, when you run up against someone else's shamelessness, ask yourself, is a world without shamelessness possible?

No. Then don't ask the impossible. There have to be shameless people in the world. This is one of them. And he says, tell yourself the same is true for someone vicious or untrustworthy or with any other defect. He says if you remember that the whole class has to exist, it will make you more tolerant. Of its members. Right? And then he says, and it's worth keeping this in mind too, that nature has given us qualities to counteract this defect. Respond.

Ти десь аз на атидот та ункинес. It gave us kindness and other qualities to balance out other people's flaws. That's just wonderful advice, right? You're never gonna have a perfect record, you're never gonna hit all green lights, you're gonna meet some people who are annoying, you're gonna meet some people who are obnoxious, you're gonna meet some people who are shameless, some people who are dishonest, some people who And when you remind yourself Yeah, this is one of those people. It was statistically certain that I was gonna meet one of those people. Helps calm you down, helps you not be surprised, and then it helps you get to work doing what he said, which is counteracting their defect with your virtues. Respond to unkindness with kindness, respond to dishonesty with honesty, respond to greed.

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