The Daily Stoic - It’s Easy To be Sad

Episode Date: August 28, 2019

In his new book, Comedy Sex God (as well as on his wonderful podcast and on his HBO show) the comedian Pete Holmes talks about the aftermath of the dissolution of his marriage. After his wife cheated on him and their subsequent divorce, he was hit with a long developing crisis of faith in the religion he had grown up with.He describes this period as many nights on the road. Lots of work. Lots of drinking. Lots of crying. Lots of Counting Crows songs on repeat. And while that all seems very tough, the interesting part about it, he says, looking back, is how easy it was. How comfortably he slipped into this depression and came to feel at home in it. He almost looks back at the period fondly now, as if remembering a long morning under the warm covers.This is something the Stoics were quite aware of as well, and why they urged us to be wary of our passions. It’s not that they felt that emotions were bad, it’s that they knew how easy it was to slip into them and be consumed by them. When we lose someone we love, grief is natural. It can also be tempting to simply take residence inside that grief as a way of protecting ourselves from ever getting hurt again. When we run into difficulty, it’s natural to be sad about it. And we can quite easily adopt this sadness as our new world view, when the braver thing is actually to make ourselves vulnerable again in the pursuit of something to be hopeful and happy about. One of the key virtues of Stoicism is moderation. Not too little. Not too much. Just the right amount. It’s easy to overindulge your emotions, as Pete Holmes did for so long on the road as a comic. It’s easy to block them off entirely, as Stoicism has been wrongly criticized for advocating for centuries.The truth is, neither absence nor abundance is the right path. Because neither is a path toward anything at all. And what is life but a path whose twists and turns are ours to carve with our own two feet. See 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 good life. insight, wisdom necessary for living 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 dailystoic.com. It's easy to be sad. In his new book, Comedy Sex God, as well as on his

wonderful podcast and his HBO show, the comedian Pete Holmes talks about the aftermath of the dissolution of his marriage. After his wife cheated on him and their subsequent divorce, he was hit with a long developing crisis of faith in the religion he'd grown up with. He describes this period as many nights on the road, lots of work, lots of drinking, lots of crying, lots of counting crow's songs on repeat. And while that all seems very tough, the interesting part about it, he says, looking back, is

how easy it was, how comfortably he slipped into this depression and came to feel at home in it. He almost looks back at that period fondly now as if remembering a long morning under the warm covers. This is something that Stokes were quite aware of as well and why they urged us to be wary of our passions. It's not that they felt that emotions were bad, it's that they knew how easy it was to slip into them and be consumed by them.

When we lose someone we love, grief is natural. It can also be tempting to simply take residents inside that grief as a way of protecting ourselves from ever getting hurt again. When we run into difficulty, it's natural to be sad about it, and we can quite easily adopt this sadness as our new world view, when the braver thing is actually to make ourselves vulnerable again in the pursuit of something to be hopeful and happy about. One of the key virtues of stoicism is moderation, not too little, not too much, just the right amount.

It's easy to overindulge your emotions, as Pete did for so long on the road as a comic. It's easy to block them off entirely as Stoicism has been wrongly criticized for advocating for centuries. The truth is that neither absence nor abundance is the right path because neither is a path towards anything at all. And what is life but a path whose twists and turns our hours to carve with our own two feet? Please check out the Daily Stoke Store where we sell products that we ourselves use that are designed to take these Stoke lessons to the next level. Just go to dailystoke.com slash store.

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