Pod Insights The Daily Stoic Premium (🔓) How The Stoics Dealt With Anxiety (10 Strategies) About this episode How much more enjoyable would your days be without the constant dread of stress looming over you? Anxiety was one of the main emotions Stoicism was built to handle. In this video best-selling author Ryan Holiday explores 10 of the best time-tested ways that the Stoics dealt with anxiety.⚔️ Overwhelmed? You’re not alone. Check out the Daily Stoic Slay Your Stress Course: A 13-day challenge designed to reclaim your life from the negative effects of stress and anxiety. Go to https://dailystoic.com/stress to sign up. The pages of Marcus Aurelius’s private journal are filled with notes to himself on how to ‘escape anxiety’. Epictetus says the ‘most important task in life’ was determining what we could control and what we couldn’t, in an effort to ease daily anxieties. Seneca’s letters are constant reminders to not suffer before it is necessary. And not just reminders, but practical, actionable steps to overcoming both. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemailCheck out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more. Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:03 Ryan Holiday? Welcome to the Weekend Edition of the Daily Stoic. Each weekday, we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, something to help you live up to those four Stoic virtues of courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. And then here on the weekend, we take a deeper dive into those same topics. We interview Stoic philosophers. We explore at length how these Stoic ideas can be applied to our actual lives and the challenging issues of our time. Here on the weekend, when you have a little bit more space, when things have slowed down, be sure to take some time to think, to go for a walk, to sit with your journal,
0:46 Ryan Holiday? and most importantly, to prepare for what the week ahead may bring.
0:52 Ryan Holiday? Remember what the Stoics say, that the whole world is a temple of the gods. I mean, look at that sunset, look at this beach, look at this life.
1:04 Ryan Holiday? It hit me at some point during the craziness of the pandemic that I was an anxious person. I mean, I knew I used to get anxious about specific things, a flight, an important meeting, getting up on stage in front of people. But when all that went away, like everyone else, you know, you're stuck in your house and you realize you're still anxious. And of course, you're anxious about what's happening in the world, but you're just generally anxious. The anxiety is in you. You might not think of the Stoics as anxious people, partly because the reputation of the Stoics is that they're invulnerable, that they're invincible, that they have no emotions. But we know that Marcus Aurelius struggled with anxiety because if he didn't, he wouldn't have written so many reminders to himself about how to deal with it.
1:49 Ryan Holiday? I'm Ryan Holiday. I've written now 12 books about Stoic philosophy, which have sold more than 5 million copies over 30 languages. I've spoken to everyone from the NBA to the NFL, sitting senators and special forces operators. And I myself deal with anxiety like any normal person. So in today's episode, I want to talk about a bunch of tried and tested strategies for reducing, addressing, alleviating, hopefully eliminating anxiety.
2:15 Ryan Holiday? In your life, I know they've worked for me. It's definitely an ongoing battle, as it was for Marcus Aurelius, as it was for Seneca. But these strategies work. And so here in today's episode are some Stoic strategies for reducing anxiety. I hope you like them.
2:33 Ryan Holiday? Little things are not small. George Washington's favorite expression was many mickles make a muckle. I think Xeno said it better. He said, well, being is realized by small steps, but it's no small thing. Marcus Aurelius says, we assemble our life, action by action, step by step. No one can stop you from that. So today, as you get discouraged, as you look at this goal, it's way, way off in the distance. Don't focus on that. Focus on the immediate task in front of you. Concentrate like a Roman, as Marcus Aurelius says. Do this thing in front of you as if it's the only thing that matters, as if it's the last thing that you're doing in your life. And that adds up. It's no small thing. Many mickles make a muckle, as Washington said. Stuff adds up. That's how you get there.
3:14 Ryan Holiday? One step at a time, one day at a time, one action at a time, one insight at a time. Just go now.
3:24 Ryan Holiday? Marcus Aurelius says, just remember, you're lucky to be alive, to be alive in this moment. Even if things are crazy and insane and awful in the world, they're also wonderful because you're getting to experience them. And to take that for granted, to be bitter or jaded or cynical about that, it's to waste this gift you've been given. And there's a reason they call it the present. It is a gift. And look, even if this is not the most wonderful time to be alive, it's the only time in which you are alive. So we focus on what we control, which is our perceptions, our opinion about things. That we control, not when and where we are. We try to make the most of it. We try to accept it. We try to be grateful for it.
4:09 Ryan Holiday? And that's how we find happiness now in this present moment, no matter what's happening in the world.
4:17 Ryan Holiday? One of my favorite quotes from Marcus Aurelius, he says, "You know, you don't have to have an opinion about that." And I just think about that all the time. I don't have to have an opinion about this. I can just let it be. I can ignore it. I can realize it doesn't pertain to me. Or I can just see it as it is. I don't need to say that it's good or bad, fair or unfair. It just is. I'm going to look at it as an objective piece of information. It doesn't need me projecting my thoughts or beliefs or perceptions on it. It is. You don't have to have an opinion about this.
4:51 Ryan Holiday? The key to tranquility and peace, Marcus Aurelius says, is when you stop caring what other people say, what other people think, what other people are doing. He says, "The tranquility that comes when you care about only what you do and say." The tranquility that comes when you stop caring what they say, or think, or do, only what you do.
5:19 Ryan Holiday? A Stoic is not someone who stuffs their emotions down. That's not it at all. The Stoics processed their emotions. This is why they journaled. Socrates went around asking these questions. This is why Seneca would write these letters to his friend Lucilius. We even have some of Marcus Aurelius's letters that survive. The Stoics were not stuffing their emotions down, pretending they don't have them. They were exploring them. The Stoics talked about taking an emotion when it hits you and putting it up to the test, observing it, meditating on it, processing it, getting to the bottom of it. You know, if you just ignore your emotions, if you just conquer them. To me, it's like putting it on a credit card. Sure, you're not having to pay for it now, but eventually it's going to come due and the interest is going to make it even more expensive.
6:04 Ryan Holiday? So don't shut your emotions down. Deal with them, process them, explore them, get through them. Don't be ruled by them. In ignoring them, you are guaranteeing that later, it's going to be an even bigger deal and you're going to be even more powerless over that emotion. So work on your emotions. Do not fall into this trap that the Stoics suppress their emotions. They domesticate them, as Nicene Tullip says. But first, that requires facing them and exploring them and coming to terms with them.
6:34 Ryan Holiday? Seneca points out that we suffer more in imagination than in reality. Meaning that all the things we're anxious about, the things we worry about, the things we spend a lot of time hoping won't happen, most of them never do happen. There's that great Twain quote where he talks about how he's suffered through many things in life and how many of them have never actually happened. Because that's what he means. In our mind, we're torturing ourselves. We're worried that this could happen and that could happen. We're worried about this possibility or that possibility. But the reality is, now is now. You don't control whether that will happen or not. What you do control is now. You of course, control how prepared you are for the adversity of the future, the uncertainty of the future. But what you mainly control is the present moment. Take advantage of the present moment.
7:17 Ryan Holiday? Don't give up the present moment because you're really worried and off thinking about what could and almost certainly will not happen in the future.
7:28 Ryan Holiday? No one can harm you, at least according to the Stoics. They can hurt you, they can say cruel things, they can attack you, they can cut you, they can make you bleed. But to the Stoics, harm was a choice. You decide to see yourself as harmed by it. You remember Eleanor Roosevelt? "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." We choose to feel harmed. You are hurt the moment you believe yourself to be, Epictetus said. Marx really says, "Don't want to be harmed, don't choose to feel harmed." We control our emotions, we control our opinions, we control the story we tell ourselves about what happened. And that's why the Stoics said, "You are complicit when you feel harmed. You choose to see it that way."
8:14 Ryan Holiday? I do this one thing every single day and you can see I'm a little sweaty right now. I just went on a long walk with my kids. This is the property there. We just went on this long walk around our property. We talked, we threw sticks, we told stories, we were just outside. There's this great expression from Nietzsche. He says, "Only ideas had when walking have any worth." And I think that's right. Even Seneca talks about how the mind must be given over to wandering walks. He says, "Fields that are not allowed to rest will not bear plants." And he even says that, you know, "The mind will break like an anvil if not rested." And so this is really important. For me, walking is physical activities, it is exercise. But it's really about letting my mind rest. I leave my phone at home, I leave my thoughts at home, I leave my work at home, and I just
8:58 Ryan Holiday? go outside and I walk. And I don't even consider it exercise. It's exercise for my mind. It's time I spend with my family. It's time I spend on my property. It's time I spend outdoors. It's time I spend practicing gratitude and appreciation. This is a thing I do every day without fail, whether it's in a parking lot or on a beautiful beach somewhere. I go outside and take a walk and so should you.
9:23 Ryan Holiday? People ask like, what is the best way to start journaling? And the best way to start journaling is to start journaling. Look, there's a bunch of different ones you can do. I like the one line a day journal. This is just like a Moschino. This is a gratitude journal that I like. This is the daily stoic journal. But it doesn't really matter. Journal on your phone, journal on a scrap of paper, on the back of your to do list. It doesn't matter, but the idea is that you journal every single day. Just do it, right? Just get started. The best time to have started journaling is a long time ago. The second best time is right now. So if you want to start journaling, start journaling.
10:01 Ryan Holiday? Epictetus tells us that every situation has two handles. He says there's the handle that will bear weight and the handle that won't. He says, you could look at it as, as your brother has wronged you. He screwed you over, he's hurt you. Or you could say, I only have one brother. This is my brother. I'm going to forgive this person. I'm going to be patient. I'm going to be better. We're going to be better for having gone through this. So this idea that every situation, you can choose to see it as the way that disempowers you, that makes you the victim. Or you can choose to see it as the opportunity for growth, as the thing that will make you better, as the thing that will make you stronger for having to wrestle with. So I just love this idea. And it comes from a person who's not speaking about this idly. Like you and I are so privileged compared to Epictetus, who's born a slave in Rome. He spends 30 years in slavery.
10:45 Ryan Holiday? But he doesn't see this as a huge disadvantage. He sees it as a learning experience, as a fate that he's struggling with that's making him stronger. He says, you've been paired with a tough opponent and this is what's making you Olympic class material. That's Epictetus seeing the right handle in his own situation. So whatever you experience today, think about this. This has two handles. Which one am I going to pick? The one that bear weight, that will make me better? Or the one that won't bear weight, that will make me worse?
11:14 Ryan Holiday? If you're struggling with anxiety, if you want to do a deep dive into this like I did, I highly recommend the Daily Stoic Slay Your Stress Challenge. It's our most in-depth collection of Stoic strategies, lessons, challenges that will help you reduce stress, anxiety, worry, all those toxic, roiling emotions that we all deal with. It's one of the best things we did here at Daily Stoic. You can sign up at dailystoic.com/stress. And of course, if you're a Daily Stoic Life member, you get this challenge and all the other ones for free. We'd love to have you at dailystoic.com/stress. Thanks so much for listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast. If you don't know this, you can get these delivered to you via email every day. Check it out, dailystoic.com/email.
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