Don’t Suffer In Advance

There is a balance to Stoicism between awareness and anxiety. The Stoics want you to be prepared for an uncertain—and oftentimes dangerous—future, but somehow not worry about it at the same time. They want you to consider all the possibilities…and not be stressed that many of those possibilities will not be good. How exactly is that supposed to work? The answer lies simply in the idea of presence.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check 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

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

• 0:03Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom in everyday 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, dailystoic.com.

• 0:29Ryan Holiday?

  There is a balance to Stoicism between awareness and anxiety. The Stoics want you to be prepared for an uncertain and oftentimes dangerous future. But somehow, they don't want you to worry about it. They want you to consider all the possibilities and not be stressed that many of those possibilities will not be good. How exactly is that supposed to work? The answer lies simply in the idea of presence. As Seneca writes, "It is likely that some troubles will befall us, but it is not a present fact." How often has the unexpected happened? How often has the expected never come to pass?

• 1:13Ryan Holiday?

  And even though it is ordained to be, what does it avail to run out to meet your suffering? You will suffer soon enough when it arrives. It may well rain tomorrow, but that doesn't mean you have to get wet in advance. You can enjoy the sunshine today while still bringing in your furniture, just in case. It's important not to take the phrase "premeditatio malorum," premeditation of evils, too singularly. When Seneca says that all the terms of the human lot should be before our eyes and then only lists the bad things, he's accidentally doing that. Because of course, good stuff can happen too. Bad stuff can also not happen.

• 1:59Ryan Holiday?

  The point is that the future is out of our control. It is uncertain and also vast. We have to be aware of that, yes, but we don't need to suffer, particularly not in advance, because we have plenty of time to prepare and plenty of wide-open present before us still as well. Enjoy it.