Get Narrow Before Life Does

It’s interesting that these three great Stoics spent their final moments not as lone wolves but as friends, as fathers, as people who loved their fellow human beings. On a recent episode of The Daily Stoic Podcast (a great 2-hour episode you can watch on YouTube, by the way), the comedian Christina Pazsitzky told a story of an experience that led to a related insight:“I broke my ankle two years ago. The truth is, they gave me a shit ton of ketamine. I was tripping, and I thought I was dying. I really did. I was like, ‘I think this is it.’ And I wasn’t thinking about my career. I wasn’t stoked that I had so many specials on Netflix or that I was successful at anything. I was literally only thinking about my children and my husband. My children and my husband. It got real narrow real quick. And I came out of that and anytime I catch myself getting on this kick of, ‘I should be bigger,’ ‘I should be more successful,’ ‘I should be selling out arenas’—I go, ‘I’m going to die. My kids and my husband are all that matter.’”This is not to say that you shouldn’t strive to be successful. It is not to say that you can’t be ambitious.✉️ 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. Get narrow before life does. At the very end of his life, we know that Marcus Aurelius was making arrangements for many guardians, among whom were numbered to be the best men in the Senate, to look after his kids. We know that, at the end of his life, Seneca was with his wife Paulina, hugging her and urging her calmly not to grieve for him too much, and to live on without him. We know that Cato spent his final night

• 0:47Ryan Holiday?

  hosting friends and family for dinner. Wine was poured, dice were rolled, plates were passed, and philosophy was discussed, because in the end, it was friendship and being together that counted. It's interesting that these three great Stoics spent their final moments not as lone wolves, but as friends, as fathers, as people who loved their fellow human beings. On a recent episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast with the comedian Christina P., which you should listen to if you haven't, I'll link to it. She tells this story of an experience that led to a similar insight.

• 1:18Speaker 01

  So I broke my ankle two years ago, and I talk about this on my last special, but I read a joke about it. But the truth is, they gave me a shit-ton of ketamine.

• 1:27Ryan Holiday?

  Yeah.

• 1:28Speaker 01

  And in my K-hole, as they call it, I've never done ketamine before, I was deeply tripping, and I thought I was dying. I really did. I was like, I think this is it, man. And I wasn't thinking about my career. I wasn't stoked that I had so many specials on Netflix or that I had this successful anything. I was literally thinking about my children and my husband. My children and my husband.

• 1:51Ryan Holiday?

  Yeah.

• 1:52Speaker 01

  And it got real narrow, real quick. And I came out of that. And anytime I catch myself getting on this kick of like, "I should be bigger. I should do arenas, too. I should be..." I go like, "Oh, I'm gonna die." And it doesn't matter. And my kids are the only ones who are really gonna... Give a shit anyway.

• 2:09Ryan Holiday?

  This is not to say that you shouldn't strive to be successful. It's not to say that you can't be ambitious. It is first a reminder that the things we chase don't matter as much as we think they do. In fact, they only seem to matter because we have taken other things for granted, namely, life and time. The second is a reminder that when life gets real, our priorities get narrow real quick. We realize what's actually important. We become present. We become grateful. Don't let injury or death be the clarity that you need here. You can have it now. You can act on it today.