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Stoic Virtues: The Courage to Decide

December 22, 2025December 22, 2025 B. John 136 Views 2 Comments Moral Clarity, endurance, grief, wisdom, Courage, Life Lessons, Faith, Stoicism

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series The Stoic Virtues

This entry is part 54 of 54 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

Most of us think courage looks like pushing forward, fighting, and refusing to give in. But sometimes courage takes a quieter form. Sometimes it shows up not as effort, but as clarity, not as resistance, but as resolve.

During my mother’s final hospital stay, she listened patiently as doctors talked about rehab and recovery. After they left, she said calmly, “I’m just done.” She wasn’t asking for permission or advice. She was stating a decision shaped by a lifetime of endurance. A woman raised in scarcity. A woman who carried family responsibility without complaint. A woman who knew the difference between fear, despair, and judgment.

In this essay, I reflect on what her final decision taught me about courage. Drawing on Stoic philosophy, scripture, and lived experience, I explore courage not as bravado, but as alignment. Not as clinging, but as choosing without illusion. If you’ve ever wondered what courage really looks like when life stops negotiating, I invite you to read more.

Featured Stoicism

The Stoic Practice of Patience

August 25, 2025November 30, 2025 B. John 2136 Views 0 Comments virtues, Courage, endurance, Time, waiting, Stoicism, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, patience

This entry is part 15 of 18 in the series Stoicism Practices

This entry is part 30 of 54 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

Hospitals are made of waiting. Waiting for a doctor to make rounds, for a test result to come back, for a mother’s breathing to even out after a restless night. The hours stretch and bend in odd ways. Days lose their shape, and with them the sense of routine that usually steadies a life. In these places, impatience often comes first. It’s that urge to will things forward, to force clarity, to find answers that simply will not arrive on command.
The Stoics did not count patience among their four cardinal virtues. Yet it lies within them all. Patience is the courage that endures hardship without losing hope. It is temperance that reins in anger. It is justice that waits to judge. And it is wisdom that discerns what cannot be rushed. To practice patience is to practice all the virtues at once.. Not passively, but as an active strength in the refusal to be ruled by time’s uneven pace.