Leaning On the Stoics

There is no doubt that toxic positivity is annoying and bad. If you’re not familiar, go check out the first season of Ted Lasso, where the titular character is nearly insufferable. They discuss and deal with the issue quite well in the series. At the same time, negativity can be just as toxic - if not more so.

This becomes particularly so in times when we are faced with great uncertainty. It seems like every day brings another new horror. And then, the actual terror is magnified by talking heads all around the internet who have to scream louder with fear-inducing clickbait headlines competing for eyeballs and sponsorship dollars.

That said, we must attempt to remain rational in our response to these stimuli. Get hit with a quote about a national house or senate bill? Pull the actual text of the bill and give it a read. A state bill? Find your state legislature’s website and pull the text from there as well.

As for this outrage or that outrage of what Trump, Musk, or someone tweeted or otherwise uttered? Rehashing it doesn’t help the cause. It’s a hard process to deal with because, as a society, we’re good at discussing negativity. Even in broadcast and broadsheet media, the maxim of ‘If it bleeds, it leads’ exists. Because that shock and awe will gain the viewer’s attention. And with the current political environment across the United States, it is damn near impossible to not be angry or filled with vitriol - regardless which side of the aisle you are on.

Being filled with vitriol and anger won’t help us in these days. But that is what they are attempting to do. Anger prevents logical and meaningful actions. Anger also divides people. Even people who nominally on the side of a situation can be easily divided by angry words because one party isn’t as ‘upset’ as the other.

Please do not assume that I am attempting to tell you not to feel anger. Because anger is part of the human experience. But I find a certain solace in the words of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Especially given my history with the nightmare that is being angry all the time.

Do I want to be angry about the things I read? Yeah, I do. Because there is a ton of scary shit that is going on in the world right now. Does being angry do anything other than get my blood pressure up? Especially on things I cannot control. This post came about when I posted to a social media site that people need to get a passport if they are worried about the SAVE Act. (As of the date of this publication, the HB 22, the SAVE Act for the 2025-2026 Congress, was still in Committee.) Another person entered the comments, laying out some outrage, justified IMO, but unnecessary in said post. I replied something along the lines of “There is nothing in the realm of legality or reality I can do about what their [MAGA Republicans’] desires are. I can only offer workarounds for folks.”

I’ve spent most of my life as a walking ball of rage. Untreated PTSD tends to cause anger towards the world that traumatized you. Between medications and using a bit of Stoic philosophy, I’ve been trying hard to improve myself on this front. Especially because I know that my anger leads to hurtful and hateful actions. And that goes against my desire to help improve this shithole planet. Regardless of certain billionaires wanting to colonize Mars, it’s the only planet we have. So let’s do what we can to make it less shitty. Today and every day.

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