The Daily Stoic - Is Anxiety Playing Tricks On You?

Episode Date: October 30, 2018

You’ll likely know Charlamagne Tha God as the host of the nationally revered radio show The Breakfast Club where provocative celebrity interviews help drive the daily national conversation about issues related to hip-hop, race, society, and politics. Lesser known, the unique and compelling media personality is a Stoic. When Daily Stoic saw Charlamagne sharing pages from The Daily Stoic book across social media, we had to know more. We interviewed Charlamagne to talk about Stoicism and his new book Shook One: Anxiety Playing Tricks On Me. His advice about anxiety? You might think it the words of Seneca if we didn’t tell you beforehand,“What I would tell people who struggle with fear and anxiety is that it's natural, just always try to be aware of the source of it. That's why I believe in rational anxiety and irrational anxiety. Rational is when you know why you're afraid and anxious. Irrational is when these thoughts just flood your mind and you don't know where they are coming from, so you're just scared and having a panic attack for no reason.”Compare that to what Seneca wrote in On Groundless Fears, “What I advise you to do is, not to be unhappy before the crisis comes...some things torment us more than they ought; some torment us before they ought; and some torment us when they ought not to torment us at all. We are in the habit of exaggerating, or imagining, or anticipating, sorrow.”Next time you’re feeling anxious, let that be a cue. Let that be a command to stop and analyze. Where is this coming from? Am I bringing this on myself? The cure to anxiety is often simply in dissecting the source. It’s natural for anxiety to creep in. Just don’t let it stick around for no good reason. Nip it. Don’t help it grow. Check out our interview with Charlamagne Tha God and his brand new book Shook One: Anxiety Playing Tricks On MeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke Podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For 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 2000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystowick.com. You'll likely know Charlemagne the God is the host of the nationally revered radio show, the Breakfast Club.

Where provocative celebrity interviews help drive the daily national conversation about issues related to hip hop, race, society, and politics. Less or known is that this unique and compelling media personality is a stoic. When we saw that Charlemagne was sharing pages from the daily stoic across social media, we had to know more. So we interviewed him to talk about stoicism

and his new book, Shook One, Anxiety Planned Tricks On Me. His advice about anxiety, you might think at the words of Seneca, if we didn't tell you beforehand. As he said, what I would tell people who struggle with fear and anxiety is that it's natural. Just always try to be aware of the source of it. That's why I believe in rational anxiety and irrational anxiety.

Rational is when you know why you're afraid and anxious. Irrational is when these thoughts just flood your mind and you don't know where they are coming from. So you're just scared and have a panic attack for no reason. Compare this to what Seneca wrote in on groundless fears. What I advise you to do is not to be unhappy before the crisis comes. Some things torment us more than they ought. Some torment us before they ought.

And some torment us when they ought not to torment us at all. We are in the habit of exaggerating or imagining or anticipating sorrow. So the next time you're feeling anxious, let that be a cue. Let that be a command to stop and analyze. Where is this coming from? Am I bringing this on myself? The cure to anxiety is often simply in dissecting the source. It's natural for anxiety to creep in from time to time. Just don't let it stick around for no good reason.

Nip it in the bud and don't help it grow. Be sure to check out our interview with Charlemagne the God at dailystalk.com and please check out his new book, Shook One, Anxiety, Playing Tricks On Me, in his previous book, The New York Times Best Seller, Black Privilege, is also worth reading. Do enjoy. Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic early and ad-free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts.