How to be stoic in a crisis

I already wrote an article on Stoicism in which I aligned Stoicism with leadership principles. Now, I would like to outline how Stoicism can help manage crises.

Before I go into details, a summary of what Stoicism is. Stoicism is one of many philosophical schools of Ancient times. We have conserved the records of essential stoics of Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, or Seneca. With that, we get a clear view of what Stoics thought back then. Stoicism is especially interesting today as it emerged in times, where uncertainty was part of daily life, and people learned to cope with it. In addition, Stoicism is an approach not associated with any religion.

In recent times, Stoicism has become extremely popular as the life philosophy of the academic world as it perfectly interconnects with a scientific mindset. Stoicism has also become popular to manage hard times by James Stockdale, a former POW in Vietnam who used Stoicism to handle the challenges of his captivity.

I had my share of exposure to crises in the last year. Covid-19 is the smaller one. I live in a country that is at the moment constantly terrorized by its neighbors even though their neighbors have already tried to wipe it out more than 100 years ago in a genocide. I grew up in a stable country that, during my lifetime, had not faced military confrontations. So it was a completely new situation that new shootings could break out in which people get killed on the borders.

The beginning of the war in 2020 was primarily a time of disillusionment. Somehow, I had always believed in western values before. That we left battles behind and that being in the vicinity of the European Union guarantees that if things go wrong, there is an entity that will react. Today, I see this as a naive idea to believe that countries live up to values. I think we live in the era of the biggest bigotry ever. We all are anti-racist, anti-sexist, or whatever hashtag we want to mark ourselves with on the paper. But all are used just for pure self-representation on social media in a contest for the most ethical person in a crusade against ignorants.

Most importantly, I had to deal with anger and disappointment. But then again, I learned that just being angry does not solve a problem. I channeled my rage into reflecting on how I can apply Stoicism to deal with difficult situations. And this is what I learned. Many of it has been inspired by Stoicism.

Detach yourself from the problem

The core is to detach yourself emotionally to that extend so that you can think straight. You can then assess every situation in which you are, and you then, in the next step, can find out what you can do to improve it. I practice this for a while, and it helps me deal with the situation and keep a sane mind.

This realization was the hardest lesson. I realized in my specific situation in Armenia that if fights break out again, a single person cannot do much at this moment. EU politicians do not even dare to address problems in a meaningful way. This bigotry will not change as much as I despise it.

So the first thing to learn was to let go of all the anger to see things as they are and become aware of all delusions.

Understand the problem

Explaining now all my insights about the conflicts in the Caucasus would be too much. Still, the fact is that two dictatorial countries with expansionistic politics use a nationalist agenda to stay in power and to overshadow crises in their own country. By terrorizing their smaller neighbor, they have an easy target. They act like a school bully who picks a weaker boy to show his strength.

In the end, three entities might have the power to protect Armenia: Russia, Iran, and the US. China or India might join the game at some point, but they have not yet signaled any serious attempt to intervene. As it is all about money, we can also see a strategic goal here. If Azerbaijan and Turkey occupy the south also control the road to Europe.

We now have a game that is played the same way over and over again. As an oil-rich country, Azerbaijan spends considerable money on propaganda and partly on bribing other countries to stay silent. Then, they start attacking Armenian territory until the Russians intervene, and the whole show is stopped again. Until next time.

Understand one's role

A single person cannot do much during an attack. In the 2020 war, I tried it. I wrote to various politicians. A handful of influential people decide on the outcome of this game that powerful people try to play. I am not one of them. It is also not easy to speculate that some of the forces in power might drop out. Recep Erdogan, one of the main agitators in the conflict, might eventually lose his presidency because of health or unpopularity, but it is all speculation.

The little thing I can do is to create awareness. It might not impact much, but I learned that it is still something. So my primary motive in this article is to create awareness about how to manage crises with Stoicism. Still, if other people learn about the situation here, it is at least something that I could contribute.

Focus on what you can do

I learned that every crisis makes me stronger and shapes my capabilities to solve problems. I can find out what I can really do with a calm mind and then focus on those tasks. Crises also always create opportunities. In Armenia, I now see many Diaspora Armenians returning home despite the situation. I see more than ever the readiness to collaborate, create new ventures, and change existing systems to finally move forward.

Many investors calculate that if we created an ecosystem of strong, international companies based in Armenia, we would substantially impact the country's economy.

I decided to work on building a platform for trading greenhouse emissions together with partners. This solution has the potential to scale. At the same time, I try to inspire others to think big.

The essential stoic lesson was to focus on what I can do and accept that there are things that I cannot change. There are many other small tricks in Stoicism to manage oneself. Interested readers can study them in many books that are currently on the market.

A reminder

A crisis also helps us stay focused and take not everything for guaranteed and reminds us that we also have to set priorities. If many of us focus on those things that we really can change, we might create a cumulating effect, and this cumulating effect might help us change the future if we endure the moments where we cannot do much.