This Is Who To Turn To When You’re Struggling

"For thousands of years people have been turning to Stoicism when they had problems, big and small. Obviously you know that on some level or you wouldn’t be reading this email. But do you really practice this? Or, are you treating philosophy like some sort of side gig, as Seneca put it, or treating it, as Marcus termed it, like a stepmother? Whatever you’re going through, the Stoics have written about it." Find out what else Stoicism applies to in today's Daily Stoic Podcast. This episode was brought to you by Magic Spoon. Magic Spoon makes delicious cereal just like you remember from when you were a kid—only this version has only 3g carbs and 11g of protein. Use code DAILYSTOIC at magicspoon.com to get free shipping.****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: DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanholidayInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanholiday/Facebook: http://facebook.com/ryanholidayYouTube: 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. This is who to turn to when you're struggling. In the introduction to James Rahm's fascinating biography of Seneca, he tells a story of an immigrant janitor at Columbia University who said it was Seneca's letters that inspired him to get his degree at the school. He's certainly not the only person who turned to the Stoics for inspiration or support

• 0:51Ryan Holiday?

  in a difficult situation. We're told that Toussaint Leventur read Epictetus while he languished in one of Napoleon's prisons. At Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace in Manhattan, you can even see a copy of Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius that Teddy read as he lay dying in a Brazilian jungle. George Washington watched a play about Cato at the depths of the American Revolution. The journalist Elif Bautaman has written about how reading the Stoics helped her when she was living alone overseas, struggling in a long-distance relationship, and depressed by a deteriorating political environment. Even some of the best writings on Stoicism by Cicero, Montaigne, and by Seneca was done while these men were forced

• 1:35Ryan Holiday?

  into exile or hiding while the world tore itself apart. The point is, for thousands of years, people have been turning to Stoicism when they had problems, big and small. Obviously, you know that on some level, or you wouldn't be reading this email, or you wouldn't be listening to this podcast. But do you really believe this? Or are you treating philosophy like some sort of side gig, as Seneca put it, or treating it, as Marcus did, like a stepmother? Whatever you're going through, the Stoics have talked about it. Really angry about something? Seneca has a great essay about that, and actually, we have... A Taming Your Temper course with Daily Stoic. Are you sad about losing someone you love? Seneca has written beautiful essays on grief. Are you wondering about God?

• 2:19Ryan Holiday?

  Cicero has a great dialogue about this. Have you lost everything in a bankruptcy? Zeno's life story is about exactly this. Are you afraid of dying? Well, Seneca wrote about that. Marcus did too. Are you wrestling with ego? There are so many great meditations from Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus about this. Are you wasting time? Are you unproductive? Seneca is your man. Injured or facing a disability? Epictetus knows all about it. In jail or feel like you're in jail? Read James Stockdale. Feeling stuck, experiencing a lack of motivation, fed up with the people around you? Marcus has a passage on overcoming these exact things. Is your boss a deranged tyrant? Well, Seneca's was too.

• 3:02Ryan Holiday?

  Dream of living on a farm but haven't the first clue of where to begin? Cato the Elder wrote a book on it. Remember, Stoicism isn't this thing you do once. It's an active, ongoing pursuit. It's more like the Torah than the Ten Commandments. You read and you reread, study and debate, lean on it when you're going through hard times. It's ritual, it's routine, it's something to rely on. So whatever it is, whatever you're going through, the Stoics are there for you. If you return to them, if you let them be.