Surrender But Don’t Give Yourself Away

The fact of life is that we’re going to get tossed around by forces outside our control. Never forget fortunes’ habit of behaving exactly as she pleases, Seneca reminds us, never forget that adversity is inevitability. There would be war, he said, and torture and shipwrecks and exile, along with a lot less dramatic stuff: traffic jams, divorces, food poisoning, annoying neighbors, bad weather, pets that run away. The only option according to the Stoics was to submit. No amount of wishing otherwise, no amount of anxiety, no amount of power or wealth would fully protect us from this. We had to surrender to the fates, let them guide us. But perhaps we could add to this idea a little corollary from Cheap Trick—surrender, but don’t give yourself away.✉️ 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 at DailyStoic.com.

• 0:24Ryan Holiday?

  Surrender, but don't give yourself away. The fact of life is that we're going to get tossed around by forces outside of our control. "Never forget Fortune's habit of behaving exactly as she pleases," Seneca reminds us. "Never forget that adversity is an inevitability." "There would be war," he said, "torture, and shipwrecks, and exile, along with a lot of less dramatic stuff, like traffic jams, and divorces, and food poisoning, and annoying neighbors, and bad weather, and pets that run away." The only option, according to the Stoics, was to submit. No amount of wishing otherwise, no amount of anxiety, no amount of power or wealth would fully protect us from this. We had to surrender to the fates. We had to surrender to the fates, to let them guide us. But perhaps we could add to this idea a little corollary from Cheap Trick:

• 1:09Ryan Holiday?

  Surrender, but don't give yourself away. Stockdale obviously had to surrender as a POW. He had to accept his powerlessness. He had to the objective reality of his fate in captivity. And yet, he kept the most important part of himself to himself, within himself. Marcus really just accepted the job of the emperor, which he did not seek out. But there was a part of himself, the part we read in the pages of Meditations, that it did not allow his professional identity to consume. We all have to surrender and accept and exceed to the events that life throws at us. There will be moments when we have to give up, when we have to admit defeat. But like Stockdale, like Marcus, like a Stoic, we don't have to give ourselves away in the process. Nothing can make us depart from our virtues and values but ourselves.

• 1:52Ryan Holiday?

  No one and nothing has any say over our character. That's always ours, unless we surrender it.