| Cleanthes and Socrates exposed themselves to cold. Marcus Aurelius slept on a hard mattress. Seneca practiced poverty on a regular basis. Why did they do this? It was to toughen themselves up in case of a reversal of fortune, for sure. It was to prepare for some future day when they might be thrown out of their comfortable homes and warm beds. It was to prepare for war and exile and disaster. But do you know why else we do these difficult things? Why do we expose ourselves and toughen ourselves up? So we can better handle the little, daily challenges too. Saying no is awkward and uncomfortable…but so is getting in a cold plunge. Being criticized isn't fun…but neither is lifting heavy things. Waiting through interminable flight delays is boring…but so is staring at a wall in meditation, resisting the urge to check your phone. So we familiarize ourselves with these things. We build our capacity to deal with them. We get over our fear of them and anything like them. We know that life has future discomfort and difficulty in store for us. But because of our practice, we know we are tough enough to handle them. We know how to get through them.
This Week On The Daily Stoic Podcast: What if the real problem isn't politics, the economy, or technology, but where you're directing your attention? Emmy-winning journalist Chris Hayes joins Ryan to reveal the sinister mechanics of modern media, explore how the digital age fractures our sense of self, and explain why misinformation is most dangerous when it tells us exactly what we want to hear.
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