Stoic Week 2024 begins on Monday, 28 October. Register here
Stoic Week is a free, annual online event where people worldwide aim to live like a Stoic for seven days. The focus is Stoicism and Wellbeing, and although Stoic Week is primarily designed for those new to Stoicism, many participants who take part in Stoic Week repeatedly report finding the experience beneficial. If you’ve taken part before and know someone who you think might benefit from doing Stoic Week, why not “pay it forward” and share this article with them?
Each day, participants will read a couple of pages on the daily topic, watch a video, and engage in Stoic morning and evening meditations, alongside practising Stoic principles throughout the day. You’ll receive a free handbook to download and can interact with other students and course facilitators via an online platform. While you could spend several hours a day on this, even 20 minutes a day can bring benefits.
The Stoic Week Handbook was created by Modern Stoicism, a multi-disciplinary team of academic philosophers, classicists, professional psychologists, and cognitive-behavioural therapists, founded in 2012 to help others apply Stoic principles to modern life. The Handbook provides both general Stoic theory and step-by-step guidance on Stoic exercises, offering an invaluable opportunity for personal development – and it’s completely free.
Since Stoic Week began, over 40,000 people have participated, and we see significant benefits for most who complete it, based on wellbeing questionnaires completed at the start and end of the week. In 2023, we found:
- Negative emotions decreased significantly: “feeling negative” by 29%, “feeling sad” by 27%, “feeling bad and angry” by 24%, and “feeling afraid” by 21%.
- Positive emotions increased, with “feeling joyful and content” both rising by 14%.
- Life satisfaction increased by 13% and a sense of flourishing by 10%.
Each year, we receive a wealth of feedback, which we use to revise and improve the Handbook. Here’s what past participants have said:
- “I am calmer and accept many disagreeable things with good spirits. I’m not so easily hurt.”
- “Having a clear list of daily exercises has been very useful and has helped make them a daily habit.”
- “It has put personal difficulties, such as health and treatment, into perspective.”
- “The guidance of Stoicism makes me happy.”
- “Being involved daily has made me realise how positive and worthwhile my life is and how prepared I am for whatever life presents.”
New for 2024 This year, we’ve introduced several enhancements, including two new daily exercises designed to deepen your Stoic practice. We will focus on one of our favourite Stoic passages, Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations 2.1.
We are also introducing the STOIC framework, a Stoic twist on a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) technique. The five steps are:
- Stop – recognise a challenging situation.
- Time Out – step back, breathe, and give yourself time to analyse.
- Observe – reflect on your initial thoughts and feelings.
- Identify – find a Stoic perspective to guide you.
- Choose – decide how to respond Stoically.
This approach helps you pause and reflect, building the habit of Stoic thinking, and enriches your practice through daily reflection.
Each day, we’ll introduce key ideas with an illustrated sketch by Artem Pendyurin (@ErBlack https://erblack.me/ ). Based on feedback, we’ve also clarified certain sections, particularly the material on emotions (Tuesday), and we’re providing a downloadable Microsoft Word version of the Handbook, so you can complete exercises and keep a journal on your computer, phone, or tablet throughout the week.
Can you help with translating the Stoic Week Handbook?
This year, translations are being prepared in French, Spanish, Romanian, Polish and Dutch. If you’d like to help translate the materials into another language, please contact us at stoicweekadmn@gmail.com.
Preview of Stoic Week on-line on Saturday 12th October
Tim LeBon, who this year is co-facilitating Stoic Week with Eve Riches, is in Conversation on-line with Phil Yanov on Saturday October 12th at 1500 UK time (10:00 AM Eastern Time). Tim will be presenting an introduction to some of the ideas that will feature in Stoic Week, followed by discussions in breakout rooms and Q&A. Register for free for Saturday’s one and a half hour Conversations event at https://lu.ma/cubf08bg?mc_cid=c002d672df&mc_eid=6c6383313f
Register for Stoic Week today
We look forward to having you join us for Stoic Week 2024! You can register for Stoic Week here: https://learn.modernstoicism.com/p/stoicweek2024
