And This Too Shall Pass

"In 1859, before he was president, before he suffered through that harrowing train ride to Washington on his way to office where many thought he would be killed before he arrived, before the Union tore itself to pieces and around 750,000 people died in the Civil War (the total number dead is still unknown), Abraham Lincoln gave a speech at the Wisconsin State Fair. The subject of the speech was supposed to be agriculture, but Lincoln decided to go a little deeper."Find out what Lincoln discussed, and why it's so important to remember nowadays, on today's Daily Stoic Podcast. Today's podcast is sponsored by Epic Provisions, a maker of great protein snacks. Ryan and Epic Provisions are asking everyone to #TakeAnEPICBreak. Whether it's a small micro-break or a longer rest, taking a break is critical in these stressful times. Epic Provisions makes delicious high-protein snacks that are perfect for regaining energy during a break, like their incredibly satisfying protein bars.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee 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.

• 0:29Speaker 01

  "And this too shall pass." In 1859, before he was president, before he suffered through the harrowing train ride to Washington on his way to office, where many thought he would be killed before he arrived, before the Union tore itself to pieces and hundreds of thousands of people died in the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech at the Wisconsin State Fair. The subject of the speech was supposed to be agriculture, but Lincoln decided to go a little deeper. He told the story of an eastern king who asked his wisest philosophers to provide him a sentence that would not just be true in each and every situation,

• 1:08Speaker 01

  but always be worth hearing. "It presented him the words," Lincoln said, "and this too shall pass away." "How much it expresses how chastening in the hour of pride, how consoling in the depths of affliction," Lincoln said, "and this too shall pass away." Did Lincoln know that this story was a core teaching in Buddhist philosophy? Did he know the incredible triumphs and fiery trials that lay ahead? Could he have been morbid enough to sense that it applied to his brief existence on this planet, that he had less than six years left to live, with which to do his work before he too would pass away? Marcus Aurelius certainly understood this, writing that "we must keep in mind how fast

• 1:52Speaker 01

  things pass by and are gone, those that are now and those to come." "The events of the world, good and bad, beautiful and tragic, or terrifying, flow past us quickly. None of them are stable." Each of them disappears with due time into the rush of the water and is never seen again. "It would take an idiot," Marcus wrote, "to feel distress, or arrogance, or anger. Just wait a second," he said, "whether you're being elevated to the highest office in the land, or sucked into the awful carnage of a war, or locking yourself indoors during a pandemic. This too shall pass. It will be taken care of soon enough."

• 2:34Ryan Holiday?

  Like me, a lot of you work from home, and I think one of the dangers of working from home is burnout, because suddenly you're in charge of your own schedule. And if you're a hardworking, disciplined person, as the Stoics tell us to be, sometimes you don't give yourself the breaks that you need to. But you have to remember, Seneca says, "The mind must be given to relaxation. It will rise improved and sharper after a good break." I'm really excited to announce that Epic Provisions, who makes great protein snacks, is promoting something with me. We're calling it the Take an Epic Break Promotion. It's to encourage people to take a break, whether it's a micro break or a macro break, some deliberate time to yourself where you pause, you step away from the computer, you

• 3:15Ryan Holiday?

  step away from the work, you think, you let the mind relax, as the Stoics say, and you just chill out a little bit. The point is, give yourself a break. That's what we're encouraging you to do. You can check out the hashtag if you want to share this, hashtag #TakeAnEpicBreak. Burnout is real, especially with all the things that are going on in the world, so I want to make sure everyone's taking care of themselves. And let's take an epic break this week. Thanks to Epic Provisions for sponsoring this and for encouraging everyone to do something they should be doing anyway, which is take an epic break. Take a break for yourself. Give the mind some relaxation. It will rise improved and sharper after a good break, as Seneca says, and I think he's absolutely right.