Life After Door Kicking shield

Life after door kicking.

Tag: Philosophy & Stoicism

  • Things run so smooth we forget they’re not guaranteed to

    I heard recently that we’ve moved to a post-scarcity society—and that it wasn’t even up for debate.Stopping at the gas station in the morning shatters that illusion.If we were actually post-scarcity, there’d be no shortages. Prices wouldn’t exist. Geography wouldn’t matter. Conflicts on the other side of the world wouldn’t touch anything here because you…

    Written by

    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • Joe Blow to Double 00 : the Power of a smile in your toolkit

    For most of my life, I was a sourpuss. Angry, unapproachable, someone people didn’t dare waste a smile on. I was just Joe Blow—grumpy, defensive, easy to avoid. Somewhere along the way, though, I started adding tools to my kit, and the most surprising one was a smile. Learning to wield it deliberately—strategically—felt almost like…

    Written by

    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • “Before Stoicism: Musings Toward a Philosophy”

    ,

    Most people think they’re shepherds.In reality, most of us are sheep—and we spend a surprising amount of time arguing over who the wolves are.That realization was part of one of my earliest attempts at building a philosophy.Long before I ever read Marcus Aurelius or Epictetus, I was trying to make sense of how people behave…

    Written by

    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • Why I Chose Stoicism Over Epicureanism

    , ,

    Philosophy isn’t some wasted elective from high school, or a lot of debt from a college with no method of recompense — it’s a tool for life. When understood and applied, it can help you lead a good life, but first you have to define what a “good life” actually means. I’ve dabbled in philosophy.…

    Written by

    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • Security First, Freedom Later — The Ancient Shell Game

    , ,

    Everyone claims to value freedom. Ask a hundred people whether they would rather live free or not, and all hundred will say yes. But history and human behavior tell a more complicated story. When faced with uncertainty, instability, or danger, people consistently choose security over liberty.This choice is not foolish — it is practical. Human…

    Written by

    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • It wasn’t bad enough so I let it get so much worse

    ,

    This is the post I didn’t want to write.What makes it worse is that none of this is new to me.I wrote about this years ago. It was actually the first thing I ever wrote, even if it wasn’t the first thing I posted. I talked about the panic attacks, the hyper vigilance, the feeling…

    Written by

    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • The Cost of Isolation: Six Lives That Prove We’re Meant to Be With People

    , ,

    And Why I Still Fight the Urge to Pull Away Isolation is tempting. Quiet. Predictable. Controlled. I battle with the urge to isolate. There are days when even stepping into a party, a store, or a casual conversation feels draining, like the world is tapping a vein and taking what I’ve got left. Sometimes it’s…

    Written by

    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • Let’s get one thing straight: socialism has worked before. Once. In a war camp with spears.

    ,

    “He trained his fellow-citizens to have neither the wish nor the ability to live for themselves.” —Plutarch, on the Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus Socialism Worked Once—in Sparta. And Y’all Aren’t Man Enough to Be Spartans Sparta was the original communist wet dream—no private wealth, no individual luxury, shared property, mandated equality, state-raised children, and universal military…

    Written by

    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • Speaking extemporaneously

    ,

    This is something I didn’t write so much as find —the pen just moved, and I followed.Sometimes the mind drags you through chaosjust to remind you what clarity costs.These words came from that place. — Sometimes this dream feels like a nightmareIntrusive like a sledge, like I’m having night terrors,and I just can’t back up…

    Written by

    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • Measured in Exhales

    Feeling different than all my peers in this,Struggles of a left-handed lyricist,Smudges on my fist from dragging it,Even worse when I was gripping it. Audacity to worship myself — intrinsic,But a little introspection shows that’s illogic,Blessings of a curse — I’m gifted,Writing backwards in my notebooksso this spiral isn’t on my wrist. I was never…

    Written by

    lifeafterdoorkicking