It Goes In Only One Direction

From one end comes another beginning, nothing lasts forever—nor would we want it otherwise. 🎟️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 toThe Daily Stoic Premium https://dailystoic.supercast.com/ - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content:https://dailystoic.supercast.com/ 🎥 VIDEO EPISODES https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos| Watch the video episodes onThe Daily Stoic YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos:https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos ✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email athttps://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?

  It may seem dark to think about it this way, but it's true. "We are constantly dying, dying every day," Aseneca said. "Life is a one-way street. Time marches in only one direction. Things are always ending, always coming to a close, or getting closer to one." Marcus Aurelius knew this, but he didn't let it get him down. In fact, he found some reassurance in it. "When we cease from activity or follow a thought to its conclusion," he observed, "it is a kind of death. But this doesn't harm us," he pointed out. "In fact, we look forward to many of these cessations and conclusions. Think about your life," he said, "childhood, boyhood, youth, old age, every transformation a kind of dying." Was that so terrible? Of course not. It's just how life is. From one end comes another beginning. Nothing lasts forever, nor will we want it otherwise.

• 1:00Ryan Holiday?

  Instead, we have to accept change, if not embrace it. We have to accept that none of us maintain anything or any form forever. Instead, we are transitioning, always, some quickly, some more slowly. Everything is tinged with a kind of dying. Everything is a phase, including the life we're lucky enough to live right now.