Millennial Mindfulness Is Over. Now the "Lazy, Entitled" Generation Is Taking on Stoicism
Story by Dana Dickey •
16h
While millennials (and Gen Z for that matter) get a bad rap as being entitled personalities with whiny, me-first attitudes, the explosion of Stoic-themed posts on Tiktok exhorting right living through determination and self-control disproves this. Stoicism, the grit-and-glory philosophy of a Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, has been turned into TikTok memes a la "It's not what happens to us that matters, it's how we react to what happens to us that matters." Add to this bestselling millennial authors such as Ryan Holiday (The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph) and you’ve got an onslaught of determination-focused content as opposed to entitlement chic. After all, if you’re lazy, you’re certainly not going to like a post that suggests you “see people as opportunities to practice self-discipline in the face of unfairness.”
What’s behind this craze for the wisdom of the ancients, and how specifically does it reveal a more determined millennial and Gen Z mindset than we’ve given these groups credit for?
What Is Stoicisim?
The Oxford Languages dictionary definition of Stoicism is “an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded at Athens by Zeno of Citium. The school taught that virtue, the highest good, is based on knowledge; the wise live in harmony with the divine Reason (also identified with Fate and Providence) that governs nature, and are indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune and to pleasure and pain.” Brigid Delaney, author of the new book Reasons Not to Worry: How to Be Stoic in Chaotic Times, writes that “Today, Stoicism is undergoing a revival. Unlike religion, with its set orthodoxies and rules, Stoicism is pliable. It has no leader or cabal guarding its purity and it can’t be co-opted by various sects or interest groups who claim it as their own.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/millennial-mindfulness-is-over-now-the-lazy-entitled-generation-is-taking-on-stoicism/ar-AA1jy13V?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=7352549c99664ef1b3bff16d918ced6a&ei=46
