No One Can Take This Away | Why Seeking Out Challenges Will Change Your Life

“It is a vast kingdom to be able to cope without a kingdom,” Seneca wrote in his play, Thyestes. This was no mere word play. This was hard-won wisdom. No one can stop you from ruling over yourself. It’s the best and the biggest and the strongest kingdom there is.---Those who have never been tested should be pitied, Seneca said, because they don’t know what they’re capable of. To Marcus, philosophy was all about challenging yourself. It was about settling on words and reminders (epithets, he called them) to live up to, particularly in difficult situations. 🃏Get this deck and you’ll be able to test your mind and body and become a better you: https://store.dailystoic.com/products...✉️ 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.

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  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life. On Tuesdays, we take a closer look at these Stoic ideas, how we can apply them in our actual lives. Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy.

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  Twice Seneca was exiled. Twice, he basically lost everything: money, access, influence. It all went away. Like that. How did he handle it? The first time, not so well. We can read the "Thou dost protest too much" letter he wrote to his mother, and we can see what he was willing to do in order to be recalled. By Stoic standards, it wasn't pretty. The second time, he did a little better. As long as he could be free from Nero, the exile was worth the loss. And when he was approached by Nero's executioner, he responded finally with courage and strength. Only then were the man and his philosophy aligned. "It is

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  a vast kingdom to be able to cope without a kingdom," Seneca wrote in his play, Thyestes. This was no mere wordplay. This was hard-won wisdom. Seneca really did know of what he spoke. He really did learn how to break free of the hold that material things and status had over him, and in it, he found both great power and eventually immortality. Another fellow traveler in Stoicism was the slaved-turned-philosopher Publilius Cirrus. "If you are to have a great kingdom," he wrote, "rule over yourself." That's what we should think about today. Real power can't be taken away, not by the economy, or by an election, or by

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  anything else. A populist surfs on the moods of the crowd, but a philosopher, a person worthy of our respect, rests on principles. They can hate you, they can send you away, they can mock you, or even kill you, but no one can take away those principles. No one can stop you from ruling over yourself. It's the best, and the biggest, and the strongest kingdom there is.

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  Hey, it's Ryan Holiday. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. The Stoics pitied those who have never been challenged. Seneca said, "They don't know what they're capable of. They don't know what they have inside them. And because they haven't trained, because they haven't undergone that training, because they haven't been tested, it may well be that in the moment of their life, in a moment of great crisis, they will fail, or they will doubt themselves." Well, the Stoics felt that the study of philosophy was one way to prepare and train for that. In fact, Epictetus said, "The whole point of Stoic philosophy was to get to a place so when things happen in life, you could honestly say to yourself, yes, this

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  is what I've trained for. This is what I've thought about. This is something I've dealt with before. This is a challenge I can rise to meet." Well, in today's episode, we're going to talk about seeking out some challenges in life, a way of thinking about challenges. And we're drawing on the Daily Stoic Challenge Deck, as it happens, this cool card deck we made over in the Daily Stoic store. You grab one card per day, and it gives you something to think about that day. It's a cool system. People have loved it. You can check that out at store.dailystoic.com. I'll link to it in today's show notes. But the overall theme of today's episode is about this really

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  important Stoic topic, which is the seeking out of, the relishing of, the rising to, the challenges of life. And let's get right into it. Today's challenge for you is to wake up early, one hour earlier than you normally do. As Marcus Aurelius says to himself, "On the mornings when you struggle with getting out of bed, keep this in mind, I am awakening to the work of a human being." Like, whatever your alarm clock says, move it back so tomorrow you wake up earlier than you want to wake up. And then the question is, how are we going to use this time to be productive, to be still, to be thoughtful, to be reflective? I would advise spending some time in the journal, but wake up earlier. See how wonderful it is. Today's challenge, take a cold shower.

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  You gotta grab that handle and turn it all the way to the cold side. Let that cold water hit you. As Seneca says, "The body must be treated rigorously so that it may not be disobedient to the mind." Can you master the willpower to deliberately experience discomfort? I promise, as uncomfortable as it is, you will feel empowered after. Not only will you feel alive and invigorated, but you will feel empowered because you did that and you now know that you have what it takes to do that. Today's challenge is to take a one-hour walk. We should take wandering outdoor walks so that the mind might be nourished and refreshed by the open air and deep breathing. Get outside, get moving, get up from your desk. You have to spend some time outside. You cannot be on your phone scrolling.

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  Be outside, experience nature, see how it changes you. Today, you have to memorize your favorite Stoic passage. As Seneca says, "We linger on the works of the master thinkers. We digest it so we can turn the words into works." As Marcus Aurelius says, that I've memorized, "The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." I even have it tattooed on my arm. The idea is, I want you to take a passage from the Stoics, sit down, memorize it, let it wash over you, let you turn into muscle memory. And there's something just wonderful about that. There's, I think it's Cleantes, it's Cleantes or Chrysippus turns in one of his books and someone jokes, but you've quoted so much of the play Medea in here that almost the entire thing is in it.

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  And he said, "Ah, this is Cleantes' Medea." So the Stoics were great at memorizing stuff because they returned to it over and over again. Marcus Aurelius quotes lines from plays that are now lost. The only surviving part is the little part that he memorized. So there's something powerful. It's a long tradition to memorize stuff. Today's challenge, make a list of everything that upsets you and burn it, right? Marcus Aurelius talks about how the angriest, most grouchy, most upset, most driven people, where are they now? All that stuff is gone. So I want you to start your day today by clearing the backlog of crap in your life. As Marcus says, "How much more harmful are the consequences of anger and grief than the circumstances that aroused it?" So take your time, list all the things that are pissing you off.

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  Take that piece of paper, light it on fire, do it in a safe place, but watch it go up in smoke and remind yourself, the things, the emotions that you felt, the anger that was consuming you, it was nothing more than smoke. And then let it go. One of the most powerful parts of meditations is the beginning, where Marcus goes through all the people who've shaped him and made him who he is. He calls this debts and lessons. Well, today, I want you to write down five role models and what they taught you. Seneca says, "It's not in our power to choose our parents," he says, "but we can choose whose children we want to be." So who inspired you? Who's shaping you? Who is your hero? Who are you modeling yourself against? Take 20 minutes, list out these role models, but most importantly, write down the virtues that you admire in them and how that's changed and inspired you.

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  Today's challenge, I want you to go find someone you disagree with and have a nice conversation with them. What's so cool about Seneca's letters is he quotes Epicurus more than anyone else. He says, "We should be able to do that." He says, "I'll quote even a bad author if the line is good." The idea is, we're trapped in these bubbles. We only talk to people who think and act just like us. And then we wonder why we don't learn anything. We wonder why we're at each other's throats. I want you to be able to have a civil, educational, edifying conversation with someone you disagree with. Tonight, go outside and look up at the stars. Marcus Aurelius talks about looking up at the stars and imagining himself running with them, being alongside of them. He said, "This washes off the dust of earthly life." So spend 15 minutes gazing into the sky at night.

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  Look up at the infinity, feel both small and big, because you're connected to it, but also dwarfed by it. And in the light of that, ask yourself, like, what's really important to me? Today, I want you to wear something ridiculous, uncomfortable, things that will draw attention. Cato famously wore the least fancy clothes in Rome. He didn't wear a hat. He often walked barefoot. Part of this was to toughen himself up, but a big part of it was developing an insulation from caring what other people think. And so when all of Rome goes for Julius Caesar, Cato is able to think for himself. He's not caught up in what other people think. He didn't give a crap what other people think. And that's a skill you have to practice. So dress sloppily today. Dress in something ridiculous today. Be able to ignore that. And that's a real skill that will come in.

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  I know it seems silly, but it's a real skill that will benefit you. All right, last one. Today, I want you to do something that scares you. Seneca says, "We suffer more in imagination than in reality." You've experienced this. You go do something scary and you go, "Oh, what was I so worked up about? Why was I so worried about that?" Right? Do one thing that scares you every day. I think both Emerson and Eleanor Roosevelt said something along these lines. Do one thing every day that scares you. Do the thing you cannot do. That's the challenge today. We have to master fear. For the Stoics, courage is an essential virtue for very good reason. So that's your challenge for today. Why should you deliberately seek out challenges? What's the point of a deck like this? I think Epictetus says it. When a challenge confronts you, remember you are being matched with a younger sparring partner. Why?

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  Because becoming an Olympian takes sweat. The Stoics sought out challenges in the gym, in life, creatively, philosophically. They liked, they knew that resistance makes us stronger, that iron sharpens iron. So the purpose of this challenge deck is to shore up weaknesses, develop strengths, build yourself into a better person. When you find yourself craving a challenge, seek one out. The idea is you put this on your nightstand, on your desk, in your bathroom mirror. And each day you grab one of these challenge cards. You put it in front of you and you have to do what it says. No excuses, no running away from it. There's a limit to the time assigned to you. And if you don't use it to free yourself, it will be gone and never returned. That's the idea behind the challenge deck. I'm really excited to see. You guys post about your challenges.

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  Tell me what was hard. Do it every day. I think there's enough for a month or two of challenges in here. We made this as one of our more popular products in the Daily Stoic store. I think you're gonna like it. Try it out. I hope you like this video. I hope you subscribe. But what I really want you to subscribe to is our Daily Stoic email. One bit of Stoic wisdom totally for free to the largest community of Stoics ever in existence. You can sign up at dailystoic.com/email. There's no spam. You can unsubscribe at any time. I love sending it. I've sent it every day for the last six years. And I hope to see you there at dailystoic.com/email.