How NOT to Get Offended (Stoic Wisdom for a Thicker Skin) - Deepstash
How To Become a Better Decision-Maker

Learn more about personaldevelopment with this collection

Understanding the importance of decision-making

Identifying biases that affect decision-making

Analyzing the potential outcomes of a decision

How To Become a Better Decision-Maker

Discover 102 similar ideas in

It takes just

14 mins to read

We Are Getting Too Thin-Skinned

It's quite easy to offend someone these days. 

In the age of social media, we get bombarded with crude language, opinions we don't like, and stuff that's downright mean. That's probably why we see an increase in language policing and censorship. To some extent, this can be a good thing, for example, to protect minors. 

But when it's getting too far we can ask ourselves: aren't we getting too thin-skinned?

From a Stoic point of view, we're not offended by what we deem offensive, but by our choice to be offended.

53

369 reads

Seneca the Younger

Seneca the Younger, one of the great Stoic philosophers, was concerned with the nature of insults and being offended. 

Seneca criticized his friend Serenus for wishing that people, in general, shouldn't offend each other. According to Seneca, this is completely unrealistic and not in our control. Instead, we should aim for not to being offended, which is in our control. 

52

360 reads

1. Don't Demand The World To Be Nice

We cannot expect people to be nice to us all the time, because they aren't. Humans possess the full range of emotions, desires, and mindstates: from angry, to happy, from compassionate to sadistic. 

There are as many opinions as there are people, including opinions we don't like. Resiting this is a recipe for disappointment and will lead us to get offended all the time by what's simply a product of nature. 

This doesn't mean we should put up with people treating us badly. We can set boundaries, or limit our interactions with people that don't respect us. 

63

266 reads

2. Accept The Truth, Reject Nonsense

If someone offends you, ask yourself if the thing that you feel offended by is truth or nonsense. 

If it's truth, why be offended by truth? 

If it's nonsense, why be offended by nonsense? If someone throws nonsense at us, isn't the person that does so is the one who should feel ashamed instead of us? 

66

277 reads

Lucius annaeus seneca

Someone has made a joke about the baldness of my head, the weakness of my eyes, the thinness of my legs, the shortness of my stature; what insult is there telling me that which everyone sees?

LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA

64

273 reads

3. Contemplate Your Ego

When we are insulted our ego is attacked. This is a consequence of the story we tell ourselves, about ourselves and how the world should be. 

When something conflicts our story, it could lead to feeling offended. We should ask ourselves then: 

  • "Why are we getting offended?",
  • "What's the root of this?",
  • "Is it because of something that happened in the past?",
  • "Is it because of an ideology?",
  • "Is it because I've been culturally conditioned to be offended by this?"

Our own faculty should be our own responsiblity. 

66

283 reads

LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA

You are expressing a wish that the whole human race were inoffensive, which may hardly be; moreover, those who would gain by such wrongs not being done are those who would do them, not he who could not suffer from them even if they were done

LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA

51

231 reads

More like this

stash-superman-illustration

Explore the World’s

Best Ideas

200,000+ ideas on pretty much any topic. Created by the smartest people around & well-organized so you can explore at will.

An Idea for Everything

Explore the biggest library of insights. And we've infused it with powerful filtering tools so you can easily find what you need.

Knowledge Library

Powerful Saving & Organizational Tools

Save ideas for later reading, for personalized stashes, or for remembering it later.

# Personal Growth

Take Your Ideas

Anywhere

Organize your ideas & listen on the go. And with Pro, there are no limits.

Listen on the go

Just press play and we take care of the words.

Never worry about spotty connections

No Internet access? No problem. Within the mobile app, all your ideas are available, even when offline.

Get Organized with Stashes

Ideas for your next work project? Quotes that inspire you? Put them in the right place so you never lose them.

Join

2 Million Stashers

4.8

5,740 Reviews

App Store

4.7

72,690 Reviews

Google Play

Shankul Varada

Best app ever! You heard it right. This app has helped me get back on my quest to get things done while equipping myself with knowledge everyday.

samz905

Don’t look further if you love learning new things. A refreshing concept that provides quick ideas for busy thought leaders.

Sean Green

Great interesting short snippets of informative articles. Highly recommended to anyone who loves information and lacks patience.

Ashley Anthony

This app is LOADED with RELEVANT, HELPFUL, AND EDUCATIONAL material. It is creatively intellectual, yet minimal enough to not overstimulate and create a learning block. I am exceptionally impressed with this app!

Jamyson Haug

Great for quick bits of information and interesting ideas around whatever topics you are interested in. Visually, it looks great as well.

Ghazala Begum

Even five minutes a day will improve your thinking. I've come across new ideas and learnt to improve existing ways to become more motivated, confident and happier.

Laetitia Berton

I have only been using it for a few days now, but I have found answers to questions I had never consciously formulated, or to problems I face everyday at work or at home. I wish I had found this earlier, highly recommended!

Giovanna Scalzone

Brilliant. It feels fresh and encouraging. So many interesting pieces of information that are just enough to absorb and apply. So happy I found this.

Read & Learn

20x Faster

without
deepstash

with
deepstash

with

deepstash

Access to 200,000+ ideas

Access to the mobile app

Unlimited idea saving & library

Unlimited history

Unlimited listening to ideas

Downloading & offline access

Personalized recommendations

Supercharge your mind with one idea per day

Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.

Email

I agree to receive email updates