Self-improvement is downright painful at times. The Daily Stoic makes that clear when it talks about how much healing can hurt. Deep-seated pain from early in my life is the most difficult stuff for me to work through and overcome. However, once I’m on the other side of a particular pain, I feel so much lighter and freer. So, while I agree with Epictetus’s comparison of the lecture-hall to a hospital, I actually disagree with his point about feeling pain upon leaving it. Feeling pain during the healing, sure, but I think there is relief and joy to be found afterward. Still, I think his larger point is sensible and worth sharing.
“Men, the philosopher’s lecture-hall is a hospital – you shouldn’t walk out of it feeling pleasure, but pain, for you aren’t well when you enter it.”
-Epictetus, Discourses, 3.23.30
Have you ever been to physical therapy or rehab? No matter what the name implies or how many people you see lying about, getting massages, it’s not a fun place to be. It turns out that healing hurts. The trained experts know exactly where to exert pressure and what to subject to stress so that they can strengthen where the patient is weak and help stimulate the areas that have atrophied.
Stoic philosophy is a lot like that. Some observations or exercises will touch one of your pressure points. It’s nothing personal. It’s supposed to hurt. That’s how you’ll develop the will to endure and persevere through life’s many difficulties.