Stop Freaking Out. None of This Is New.

You think this hasn’t happened before? Whatever it is, whatever you’re freaking out about? A crisis at the borders. Agitators riling up the youth. Excess and immorality. Rising demagogues. Distrust in institutions. A backlash against free speech and expression. It’s scary because it seems new—like things are breaking down, right? Except it’s not remotely new. Each one of those things was happening during Marcus Aurelius’s reign. They were happening during Seneca’s time. They were happening a hundred years ago. They were happening back in America while James Stockdale was locked away as a POW in the late 1960s and early 1970s. What the Stoics want us to see is the big picture. All of this has happened before, Marcus wrote to himself. It happened before and it is happening now and it will happen again. Zoom out, he says, look at this from space, not with your ear to the ground. See how small it really is. Look back through the pages of history, the Stoics urge us. You’ll find that most of the things people were worried about never came to pass. The trends peter out. The revolution loses its force. Sanity is restored. You’ll find that the things they should have been concerned about, they totally missed. You’ll find people who were so focused on the trends and the symptoms of problems that they lost opportunities to address the root causes. And most of all, you’ll find that none of us are around long enough to waste any time on worry anyway. So relax. See the big picture. Focus on what you control. Change what you can. Make a difference where you can. Let go and keep going. 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. Stop freaking out. None of this is new. You think this hasn't happened before? Whatever it is, whatever you're freaking out about: a crisis at the borders, agitators riling up the youth, excess and immorality, rising demagogues, distrust in institutions,

• 0:46Ryan Holiday?

  a backlash against free speech and expression. It's scary because it seems new, like things are breaking down, right? Except it's not remotely new. Each one of those things was happening during Marcus Aurelius's reign, they were happening during Seneca's time, they were happening 100 years ago, they were happening back in America while James Stockdale was locked away as a POW. What the Stoics want us to see is the big picture. "All of this has happened before," Marcus Aurelius wrote to himself. "It has happened before, and it is happening now, and it will happen again." Zoom out, he says, and look at this from space. See how small it really is. Look back through the pages of history, the Stoics

• 1:27Ryan Holiday?

  urge us. You'll find that most of the things people were worried about never came to pass. The trends peter out, the revolution loses its force, sanity is restored. You'll find the things that they should have been concerned about, they totally missed. You'll find that people were so focused on the trends and the symptoms of the problems that they lost opportunities to address the root causes. And most of all, you'll find that none of us are around long enough to waste any time on worry anyway. So relax. See the big picture. Focus on what you can control. Change what you can. Make a difference where you can. Keep going and let go. If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every morning,

• 2:11Ryan Holiday?

  you can sign up at DailyStoic.com/email.