It’s OK To Cry

We know that Marcus Aurelius cried when he was told that his favorite tutor passed away. We know that he cried that day in court, when he was overseeing a case and the attorney mentioned the countless souls who perished in the plague that had ravaged Rome. We can imagine Marcus cried many other times. This was a man who was betrayed by one of his most trusted generals. This was a man who lost his wife of 35 years. This was a man who lost eightchildren, including all but one of his sons. Marcus didn’t weep because he was weak. He didn’t weep because he was un-Stoic. He cried because he was human. Because these very painful experiences made him sad. Antoninus, Marcus’s stepfather, seemed to be a bit more in touch with his emotions than his young stepson. He seemed to understand how hard Marcus worked to master his temper and his ambitions and his temptations and that this occasionally made him feel bottled up. So when his stepson’s tutor died and he watched the boy sob uncontrollably, he wouldn’t allow anyone to try to calm him down or remind him of the need for a prince to maintain his composure. “Neither philosophy nor empire,” Antoninus said, “takes away natural feeling.”The same goes for you. No matter how much philosophy you’ve read. No matter how much older you’ve gotten or how important your position or how many eyes are on you. It’s OK to cry. You’re only human. It’s okay to act like one. 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?

  It's okay to cry. We know that Marcus Aurelius cried when he was told that his favorite tutor had passed away. We know that he cried that day in court when he was overseeing a case and the attorney mentioned the countless souls who had perished in the plague that had ravaged Rome. We can imagine Marcus cried many other times. This was a man who was betrayed by one of his most trusted generals. This was a man who lost his wife of 35 years. This was a man who lost eight children, including all but one of his sons. Marcus didn't weep because he was weak. He didn't weep because he was un-Stoic. He cried because he was human,

• 1:09Ryan Holiday?

  because these very painful experiences made him sad. Antoninus, Marcus's stepfather, seemed to be a bit more in touch with his emotions than his stepsons. He seemed to understand how hard Marcus worked to master his destructive passions, and that this occasionally made him feel bottled up. So when his stepson's tutor died and he watched the boy sob uncontrollably, he would not allow anyone to try to calm him down or remind him of the need for a prince to maintain his composure. "Neither philosophy nor empire," Antoninus said, "takes away natural feeling." The same goes for you, no matter how much philosophy you've

• 1:52Ryan Holiday?

  read, no matter how much older you've gotten, or how important your position or how many eyes are on you. It's okay to cry. It's okay to be human. You are one. Please check out the Daily Stoic store, where we sell products that we ourselves use that are designed to take these Stoic lessons to the next level. Just go to DailyStoic.com/store.