How To Support Someone Without Taking On Their Pain
About this episode
People think Stoicism means going cold. Caring about the right things, feeling nothing for the rest. I think that gets it backwards.
In this episode I look at how to hold space for someone who is suffering without getting pulled under by it. The Stoic move is to wish them well and feel for them, but not to adopt their judgments as your own. Seneca wrote letters to do exactly this. I find that distinction, feeling empathy for the person while not taking on their distorted view of the world, is one of the more useful things Stoicism gives you. I use a parenting analogy to make it concrete.
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