We Are All So Powerless

Ryan talks about story of Epictetus and launches pre-orders for his new book The Girl Who Would Be Free. If you pre-order The Girl Who Would Be Free through the Daily Stoic Store BEFORE July 8, 2022, you receive these exclusive bonuses and deals:Audiobook and e-book versions (emailed directly to the email associated at checkout on July 8, 2022): the audiobook contains over an hour of original content, including an interview between Ryan Holiday and Victor Juhasz, narration by Ryan Holiday, narration by his wife, Samantha Holiday, and more. If you pre-order a signed copy of The Girl Who Would Be Free, you will receive a FREE copy of The Boy Who Would Be King (your free copy of The Boy Who Would Be King will automatically get shipped out with your copy of The Girl Who Would Be Free. Do not add The Boy Who Would Be King to your cart unless you want to pay for additional copies)If you pre-order an unsigned copy of The Girl Who Would Be Free, you will receive the opportunity to purchase The Boy Who Would Be King 50% OFF (you must add The Boy Who Would Be King to your cart to automatically have the discount applied)To learn more about the pre-order bonuses and pre-order your signed or unsigned copies of The Girl Who Would Be Free, head over to dailystoic.com/girlSign up for the Daily Stoic email:http://DailyStoic.com/emailFollow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and 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.

• 0:05Ryan 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.

• 0:28Ryan Holiday?

  We are all so powerless. It's one of the most unbelievable stories in all of history. A kid is born into slavery and becomes the most influential philosopher, not just in their own lifetime, but of all time. Epictetus's name, in Greek, it literally means "acquired one." As a kid, Epictetus wanted only to be free, but in Rome, this was impossible. The law of the emperor was that no slave could be freed before their 30th birthday. So there, as the property of a violent and depraved master in a Roman empire known for treating its slaves cruelly, Epictetus resolved to find another way, to find freedom internally in the mind through philosophy.

• 1:12Ryan Holiday?

  We don't know how Epictetus first began his study of Stoicism under the great Musonius Rufus, but we know the transformation it brought about. From Musonius, Epictetus would learn about the ultimate power that human beings hold. Whether banished or in bondage, empowered or enslaved, each of us controls a great empire between our ears, over our attitudes, our wants, our desires, our opinions about what has happened to us. Epictetus would come to understand that freedom is not a legal status. It's a state of mind. It's a choice. And it's our chief task in life, Epictetus would famously say, "to make that choice." And Epictetus did. Slavery could not stop him.

• 1:55Ryan Holiday?

  Or actually her, as I explain in my new fable, The Girl Who Would Be Free. Last year, I put out this book, The Boy Who Would Be King, about the boyhood of Marcus Aurelius. What made Marcus Aurelius great? A fable designed for all ages. And that's what the new book is about. But it's about Epictetus. We're following the story of Epictetus, and it might seem like Epictetus's story is dark, but I actually find it incredibly inspiring. Epictetus would say we get to choose the handle we grab in life, and we should grab it by the end that calls us to fight and free ourselves. And so Epictetus's story, from a slave to a symbol of the human ability to find freedom

• 2:38Ryan Holiday?

  in the darkest circumstances, is incredible. I think it's really a parable for the human condition. And so this book, which I've been working on now for over a year, it was significantly delayed by a global printer shortage, but I've done my best. This 148-page book is written by me in the vein of The Boy Who Would Be King. It's illustrated also by Victor Yuhas, who did the great book The Boy Who Would Be King with me. It's now available for preorder. It's produced entirely by us here at Daily Stoic. It's printed here in the US, thus the delays on the shipping. There's a bunch of awesome bonuses if you preorder it. If you preorder it now, you not only get the audiobook and ebook versions for free. That's really awesome. But if you order a signed copy, you can get The Boy Who Would Be King for free.

• 3:23Ryan Holiday?

  And if you get an unsigned copy, you can get The Boy Who Would Be King for 50% off. So if you're having kids, you want to give the books as a gift, there's just some awesome bonuses. And you can do that at dailystoic.com/girl. I'll link to it in today's show notes. But I'm really excited for you to check out this book. I'm so proud of it. I got so many different emails from people who were like, I want a book. I love The Boy Who Would Be King, but I wanted one to teach my daughters. And so that's why I made the decision to have Epictetus be a girl in this book. But I think it is an all-ages fable. Whether you have boys or girls, it's just an important story. Certainly, it's a story that influenced Marcus Aurelius, James Stockdale, and so many other Stoics. Epictetus's story is incredible, and I bring that to you in this new book, The Girl Who Would Be Free,

• 4:07Ryan Holiday?

  which you can preorder now and get a bunch of awesome bonuses at dailystoic.com/girl.

• 4:15Ryan Holiday?

  Thanks so much for listening. If you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes, that would mean so much to us and it would really help the show. We appreciate it, and I'll see you next episode.