Just Shrug It Off Pt 2

Epictetus tells us the story of a Stoic philosopher named Agrippinus, who, during Nero’s reign, was delivered some awful news one morning: He was exiled. Effective immediately. Agrippinus’s response? “Very well, we shall take our lunch in Aricia.” Meaning: We might as well get this show on the road. No use bemoaning or weeping about it. Hey, is anyone else hungry? That’s how a Stoic responds—they shrug off the emotional weight of even the worst news. They have humor about it. They focus on what they can control and they let go of everything outside of it. Like Agrippinus, like Walker Percy did, like you can if you put in the work. If you practice, if you rehearse, if you steel yourself for the fact that life inevitably will deliver these moments to us. Being exiled. Finding out you got fired. Hearing that your computer just deleted a year of hard work. Being informed that you just lost the election. None of that is fun. It’s often unfair. You can let it crush you. You can fall to your knees and tear out your hair. Or you can shrug it off, and start thinking about lunch. It’s your call. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at DailyStoic.com. Just Shrug It Off, Part Two. Epictetus tells us the story of a Stoic philosopher named Agrippinus, who, during Nero's reign, was delivered some awful news one morning. He was exiled. Effective immediately, Agrippinus's response: "Very well, we shall take our lunch in Aricia," meaning,

• 0:50Ryan Holiday?

  "We might as well get this show on the road. No use bemoaning or weeping about it. Hey, is anyone else hungry?" That's how a Stoic responds. They shrug off even the worst news. They have humor about it. They focus on what they can control, and they let go of everything else outside of it. Like Agrippinus, like Walker Percy did, like you can do if you put in the work, if you practice, if you rehearse, if you steel yourself for the fact that life will inevitably deliver these moments to us. Being exiled, finding out that you got fired, hearing that your computer just deleted a year of hard work, being informed that you just lost the election, none of that is fun. It's often unfair. You can let it crush you.

• 1:31Ryan Holiday?

  You can fall to your knees and tear out your hair. You can shrug it off, and you can start thinking about lunch. It's your call. You know, I always ask people, what would getting rid of one bad habit be worth? Or what would adding one new positive habit be worth? What would you give to be the person you know you're capable of being? Well, that's why, for this new year, we've made a Daily Stoic New Year, New You Challenge that's going to help you do just that. It's 21 custom challenges delivered each morning. There's a video from me. There's a printable 21-day calendar. There's a group Slack channel. It's going to be awesome. I'm doing the challenge alongside everyone this year. We can do it together. We can talk together. We can make ourselves be better. You can check it out at DailyStoic.com/challenge.