Don’t Run From Pain, Embrace It

It makes sense that we avoid pain. We don’t want to cause it and we don’t want to feel it. We’d rather life be easy. This makes sense—at least in the short term. But the Stoics knew that in the long term, such an attitude made you weak, made you soft. The NASCAR driver and student of Stoicism, Brad Keselowski, recently talked about how Stoicism has taught him to take whatever is hardest or most difficult in his life and “double down and appreciate it.” Because it’s teaching you something. Because it’s making you stronger. Too many people run from pain, he said, but that’s the wrong way to do it. “Over time,” he said, “you start to realize that pain is your body flushing out weakness.”In Seneca’s writing, we see that theme come up time and time again: Don’t be afraid of challenges. They are preparing you for an uncertain future. In Marcus Aurelius we see him look even at physical pain—we get the sense that Marcus Aurelius had some chronic injuries or illnesses—as a kind of crucible that was forging him into being a stronger person. You can endure this, he would say over and over again. You can get through this. You will get through this. Of course, we should not be glib about pain or misfortune in life, but we can take all of these ideas and apply them to what we face today. There’s no need to turn away from what comes our way. Instead, we can embrace it. We can double down and appreciate what we had to do—even though it’s hard. Amor Fati. We can endure. We can flush weakness out. And we can become better and stronger for it. Whatever it is. 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. Don't run from pain, embrace it. It makes sense that we avoid pain. We don't want to cause it, and we don't want to feel it. We'd rather life be easy. This makes sense, at least in the short term. But the Stoics knew that in the long term, such an attitude

• 0:45Ryan Holiday?

  made you weak, made you soft. The NASCAR driver and student of Stoicism, Brad Keselowski, recently talked about how Stoicism has taught him to take whatever is hardest and most difficult in his life, and double down and appreciate it, because it's teaching you something, because it's making you stronger. "Too many people run from pain," he said, "but that's the wrong way to do it." Over time, Brad said, "You start to realize that pain is your body flushing out weakness." In Seneca's writing, we see that theme come up time and time again. "Don't be afraid of challenges. They are preparing you for an uncertain future." In Marcus Aurelius, we see him look even at physical pain. We

• 1:30Ryan Holiday?

  get the sense that Marcus had some chronic injuries or illnesses, and he saw this as a kind of crucible that was forging him into being a stronger person. "You can endure this," he would say over and over again. "You can get through this. You will get through this." Of course, we should not be glib about pain or misfortune in life, but we can take all these ideas and apply them to what we face today. There's no need to turn away from what comes our way. Instead, we can embrace it. We can double down and appreciate what we had to do, even though it's hard. We can endure. We can flush weakness out, and we can become stronger and better for it, whatever it is. And related to this idea of embracing challenges,

• 2:13Ryan Holiday?

  the good news is we've just released our first ever Daily Stoic Challenge Deck. You've loved our challenges in the past, those digital challenges. This is a physical card challenge. It's 30 different challenges designed to help you test your mind and body and become a better you. Each challenge card gives you a challenge for the day, an illustration, and a Stoic quote to inspire you. You can get yours now at dailystoic.com/store.