Can a Tongue-Swinger Become a Stoic?

Stoicism is a challenge to the ego.

I last introduced Stoicism by comparing Marjorie Barstow to Queen Elizabeth II…

https://atsuccess.com/blog/2022/09/i-cried-when-she-died-did-you.html

I've experimented with practising Stoicism even though I enjoy swinging my tongue about. This is my 1,172nd post - I've easily written more than a million words. Imagined how much I've talked?!*

I used to demean Queen Elizabeth's constant "small talk" - but you can imagine how hard that must have been. 300 times annually for 70 years - to be banal as a conscious strategy AND THEN manage to enjoy it?

It's nothing less than heroic.

So I've explored catching that tongue whenever it swings past to complain or show what it knows or give additional advice when it's not requested.

It. Is. So Hard.

Especially when teaching. 

One of the apparent teaching challenges - clearly demonstrated during my trainees' early, awkward lessons in Stage Two assessments - is overloading students with information. But how can HRH Blabbermouth blame his trainees when they model it back to me…

Don't you do that in teaching sometimes?

Stoicism. Practise it.

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"I apologize for such a long letter - I didn't have time to write a short one."
Mark Twain

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Stoicism is a discipline.

For my blog, this is one of my maxims. Usually, I write the first draft going blah, blah blah - what fun! Then I cut, never add. Often with structural edits for the flow of ideas. 

In teaching, I wish for the same: Jeremy - be more stoic!

Have you tried it? 

*Not that I am demeaning myself - explainers are helpful to others, and they manage to teach themselves that way. However, an adventurer is ever-curious of alternatives.