Stoic life, I think, is likely harder the short term but easier in the long term.
It is the opposite of a bad habit, which can be defined as something that is easy in the short term but makes life harder in the long term.
A Stoic might save their money, making their lives less stressful in retirement. On the other hand, a bad habit would be to enjoy hedonic pleasures now, rack up the credit card debt, having to endure the stress of paying it off later on.
That's probably true, but the ancient Stoics wouldn't think of it in those long-term-horizon reward terms. What you call a good habit the Stoics would simply see as exercising virtue, which is its own reward, and one you don't have to wait for. They talked about virtue leading to eudaimonia, which is a hybrid of self respect/flourishing/happiness which we don't have a good English analog for. I thought it was bunk for a long time.
But there really is something rewarding and pleasurable about living in accordance with our deepest held values. Not broadly, but in every moment, in the specifics. Falling short doesn't feel good. Even if we get a hedonic reward when we eat a massive chunk of cake, go on a spending spree, or choose netflix over that passion project — Those sort of lapses always leave us feeling worse because we've "damaged" our self respect/character. We've taken a massive chunk out of Eudaimonia, and the only way to recover it is to begin making better decisions again.
Stoic life, I think, is likely harder the short term but easier in the long term.
It is the opposite of a bad habit, which can be defined as something that is easy in the short term but makes life harder in the long term.
A Stoic might save their money, making their lives less stressful in retirement. On the other hand, a bad habit would be to enjoy hedonic pleasures now, rack up the credit card debt, having to endure the stress of paying it off later on.
That's probably true, but the ancient Stoics wouldn't think of it in those long-term-horizon reward terms. What you call a good habit the Stoics would simply see as exercising virtue, which is its own reward, and one you don't have to wait for. They talked about virtue leading to eudaimonia, which is a hybrid of self respect/flourishing/happiness which we don't have a good English analog for. I thought it was bunk for a long time.
But there really is something rewarding and pleasurable about living in accordance with our deepest held values. Not broadly, but in every moment, in the specifics. Falling short doesn't feel good. Even if we get a hedonic reward when we eat a massive chunk of cake, go on a spending spree, or choose netflix over that passion project — Those sort of lapses always leave us feeling worse because we've "damaged" our self respect/character. We've taken a massive chunk out of Eudaimonia, and the only way to recover it is to begin making better decisions again.
I accept frugality but not austerity.