When Things Are Tough, Remember This

Most languages have some expression to the effect of “When it rains, it pours.” For instance, in Latin malis mala succedunt means troubles are followed by troubles. In Japanese, they say, “when crying, stung by bee.” The point of these expressions is to capture an unfortunate reality of life: that what can go wrong will… and often all at the same time. Obviously to the Stoics, the idea of premeditatio malorum is a kind of hedge against this. If you’re only prepared for a few, isolated and tiny things to go wrong, you’re going to be rudely surprised by how often difficulties come in pairs or triplets or entire litters. If you think life is going to be one lucky break after another, you’re going to be rudely surprised when, to quote Seneca, fortune decides to behave exactly as she pleases. The real lesson from the Stoics on adversity comes from Epictetus, however, who believed that while we don’t control whether it’s pouring, we do control how we respond. We control whether we can find something productive to do inside, while it’s raining. We control whether we put on a jacket. We control whether we’ve been smart enough to build a roof while the sun was shining. And Epictetus would have also liked the quip from the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadwick, who reminds us that in space, “there is no problem so bad you can’t make it worse.” So if you’ve been feeling some raindrops lately, first off, be prepared for things to really start coming down. Get ready for the bee sting on top of the stubbed toe. Get ready for your delayed flight to also have turbulence. But most importantly, don’t make it worse by overreacting, by taking it personally or doing something stupid. Whatever it is, know that perhaps the first step to making things better is just not making them worse. See 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.

• 0:28Ryan Holiday?

  When things are tough, remember this: Most languages have some expression to the effect of "when it rains, it pours." For instance, in Latin, "malis mala suscident" means troubles are followed by troubles. In Japanese, they say "when crying, stung by bee." The point of these expressions is to capture an unfortunate reality of life, that what can go wrong will, and often all, at the same time. Obviously, to the Stoics, the idea of "premeditatio melorum" is a kind of hedge against this. If you're only prepared for a few isolated and tiny things to go wrong, you're going to be rudely surprised by how often difficulties come in pairs, or triplets, or entire litters. If you think

• 1:11Ryan Holiday?

  life is going to be one lucky break after another, you're going to be rudely surprised when, to quote Seneca, "fortune decides to behave exactly as she pleases." The real lesson from the Stoics on adversity comes from Epictetus, however, who believed that while we don't control whether it's pouring, we do control how we respond. We control whether we go find something productive to do inside while it's raining. We control whether we put on a jacket. We control whether we've been smart enough to build a roof while the sun was shining. And Epictetus would have also liked the quip from the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadwick, who reminds us that in space, there is no problem so bad that you can't make it worse. So if you've been feeling some raindrops lately, first

• 1:55Ryan Holiday?

  off, be prepared for things to really start coming down. Get ready for the beast on top of the stubbed toe. Get ready for your delayed flight to also have turbulence. But most importantly, don't make it worse by overreacting, by taking it personally, or by doing something stupid. Whatever it is, know that perhaps the first step to making things better is just not making them worse. Hey there. If you're wondering how to get the most out of this time you have stuck at home, maybe you're working only part-time, or you're working from home, you've got a childcare situation, none of this is what we would choose, but the Stoics say we don't choose what happens, we choose how we respond. And so that's why we've been scrambling here

• 2:38Ryan Holiday?

  at Daily Stoic to put together what we're calling the Daily Stoic Alive Time Challenge. It's 14 days of inspired Stoic wisdom that will help you get the most out of this moment, that will help you seize this moment, rise to the occasion. We're going to challenge you. It's not going to be easy, but I think you will emerge from it better, and that will be some small good that's come out of this experience. So you can check that out right now at dailystoic.com/alive time. We're going to be doing it all as a group, starting March 30. Of course, you can sign up after, but if you want to do this Daily Stoic Alive Time Challenge with me, sign up right now at dailystoic.com/alive time.