You Have This Freedom (If You Take It)

Marcus Aurelius lacked a freedom that we so readily take for granted... 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE https://www.dailystoiclive.com/| Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you https://www.dailystoiclive.com/! Grab tickets here https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ 🎙️ AD-FREE https://dailystoic.supercast.com/| Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium https://dailystoic.supercast.com/ - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/ https://dailystoic.supercast.com/ ✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

• 0:00Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues: courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world.

• 0:15Ryan Holiday?

  You have this freedom if you take it. It's something simple to take for granted. It's free, it's easy, anyone can do it. Except not anyone. The emperor of Rome couldn't exactly just take a stroll through the city. There were safety concerns, after all. He could not enjoy an anonymous walk along the river or through the streets. He could not bump into friends or explore. It wasn't just unsafe, it wasn't feasible. He did not have control of his schedule or his time, pressed as he was with business and obligations. And so, in this way, the most powerful man in the world lacked a freedom that we so readily take for granted. Indeed, the closest Marcus Aurelius could have come

• 0:59Ryan Holiday?

  was perhaps the emperor's shortcut, a hidden 300-yard passageway of zigzagging ramps that carried the emperor from the palace on the Palatine down to the Forum, safely separated from the streets of Rome. Or the Palatine Stadium, a private walking track used only by the emperor. We, on the other hand, have this freedom. And what do we do with it? We sit on our phones, we sit at our desks, we drive even short distances. And in the process, we deprive ourselves of a bit of nature, a bit of exercise, a better sense of our neighborhood, and one of the most basic forms of movement available. And that's crazy. Go take a walk.