More than two thousand years have passed since Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) first defined his methods for overcoming anxiety, worry and other negative emotions. The context has changed, but his examples and recommendations remain valid.
I am going to summarize those methods, sometimes quoting Seneca’s precise words and examples, and other times, putting the method in the context of our century.
For the sake of clarity, when I present Seneca’s insights, I’m going to use modern terminology. Seneca didn’t employ words such as “stress” or “desensitisation,” but that’s how people call those concepts nowadays.
Seneca: desensitisation for overcoming stress
Seneca’s first method is desensitisation. If we jump into a cold-water swimming pool, we will find it highly unpleasant in the winter, but we might get used to it little by little. We could try first with semi-cold water and increase the difficulty slowly until we achieve our goal.
In his 53rd Letter to Lucilius, Seneca encourages readers to “become accustomed to difficulties” as a method for increasing their resilience. If we get used little by little to handle anxiety effectively, we will grow able to keep a cool head in difficult situations.
Desensitisation may be physical, emotional, financial, etc. It entails becoming accustomed to discomfort, so that we become able to tolerate certain levels of stress or risk.
I would describe desensitisation as a physical, emotional or financial learning curve. The purpose of desensitisation is to draw more joy from life by making ourselves more resilient.
If we push our limits, we can do things better and faster due to our increased resilience. Seneca affirms in his 53rd Letter to Lucilius that we should fear wasting our life more than we fear death. Desensitisation can help us make the best of each day.
Seneca: accurate risk assessment to prevent stress
Seneca recommends us to stop thinking about unlikely catastrophes. In his 13th Letter to Lucilius, he remarks that we tend to create lots of unnecessary suffering for ourselves due to our exaggerated fears.
On the one hand, humans tend to exaggerate the likelihood of disasters, and on the other hand, we tend to exaggerate the severity of the disaster.
Seneca gives the example of the fear of shipwreck. He tells Lucilius that it is counterproductive to terrify ourselves with mental images of potential disasters. Those mental images lead to worry and anxiety, without actually solving any problem.
Lucilius was terrified of embarking on a ship from Rome to Naples, which is a rather short trip, but his preoccupation was not going to render his trip any safer.
However, there are practical steps he could take to minimize the risk. On the one hand, there are fewer chances of suffering a shipwreck if the travel takes place in spring or summer. On the other hand, Lucilius could choose a particularly sturdy ship that would be unlikely to sink quickly, giving him enough time to be saved.
Let us stop worrying about unlikely catastrophes, and at the same time, let us adopt measures to minimize the risks. We can not control every single element in our lives, but there is plenty of room for risk reduction if we plan our actions carefully.
Seneca: focus on present issues and practical steps
Seneca also recommends us to focus on actual problems instead of becoming emotionally paralysed by bad memories. I would translate this principle in modern terms by saying that it is more productive to assess or break down a real problem than going through mental loops of exaggerated fears or memories.
We have all experienced bad situations in the past. Perhaps, those situations are still fresh in our minds, but nothing forces us to keep repeating them hour after hour, day after day.
In his 104th Letter to Lucilius, Seneca praises the capacity of animals to focus on the present moment. A dog or a cat may have endured a menacing situation in the past, but doesn’t keep playing the situation in its mind hour after hour.
Humans will sometimes replay past dramas in their minds for no good reason. They will generate emotional suffering for no practical gain. In contrast, animals go about their business, not thinking about past dramas unless there is a specific reason to do so.
Seneca correctly points out that we should focus on dangers that we can actually perceive or forecast. We can take action to reduce their likelihood and severity, without having to agonize about all possible ramifications.
In his 78th Letter to Lucilius, Seneca categorizes as foolish to recall past suffering. He mentions that had himself suffered greatly from fevers in recent years, but that he does not need to recall those bad experiences all the time and relive his pain.
Seneca: look at problems in perspective
Seneca’s most crucial piece of advice is that we should look at our problems in perspective. Very few situations in life mean that we are actually finished. Unless we are terminally ill or sentenced to death, we should stay hopeful.
Instead of falling prey to panic, we should look for ways to overcome our problems. A cool head can think faster and better than a terrorized one. More often than not, an objective review of our situation will make us conclude that it is not as negative as we had originally thought.
In his dialogue “On providence,” Seneca observes that the habit of fearing the future is certain to make us miserable in the present. In extreme cases, people grow so preoccupied with potential risks that they lose hope and commit suicide.
Seneca mentions Lucius Silanus, a Roman aristocrat he had known personally. Silanus was chronically worried about the Emperor’s opinion of him. He feared losing his prestige and his wealth if the Roman Emperor came to dislike him for whatever reason.
Seneca and the story of Lucius Silanus
Silanus actually knew some victims of the Emperor’s wild arbitrariness and his fears were not without reason, but instead of taking practical measures, he worried day and night.
In the end, Silanus committed suicide because he could not take it any longer. He was terrified that, one day, the Emperor might send soldiers to confiscate his property or send him into exile, or perhaps execute them.
It was foolish for Silanus to stress himself unnecessarily and commit suicide, instead of taking practical steps to minimise the risks. He could have for instance moved his residence far from Rome and stay at a distance from an emotionally unstable Roman Emperor.
We could do exactly the same. We could for instance steer away from risky investments, emotionally unstable individuals and dangerous locations. We’ll figure out what to do if we take a deep look at the problems we are facing.
There is no need to fall prey to panic. Unless our aircraft is about to crash, there are usually things we can do to improve our situation.
We have an advantage that Seneca never had: We can look online for biographies of individuals who had surmounted or circumvented problems similar to ours. We can study those and adopt their strategies. That’s more productive than worrying all the time for no benefit.
If you are interested in putting rational ideas into practice in all kinds of situations, I recommend my book “On becoming unbreakable.”