The Daily Stoic - It’s Good That Things Have Been Hard

Episode Date: August 17, 2022

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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 dailystowick.com. It's good that things have been hard. Maybe you've had a hard time of it recently. That business project is three months over projections. Your book isn't really selling. The comments and your performance review were brutal.

Life can be like that. It kicks us around. The stuff we expected to be simple turns out to be tough. The people we thought were friends, let us down. A couple storms or unexpected weather patterns just add a whole bunch of difficulty on top of whatever we've been doing. How could that possibly be a good thing? You have to squint a bit to see it, but there is one way. You can see what's been happening as practice, as training.

Seneca wrote that only the prize fighter who has been bloodied and bruised in training and in previous matches can go into the ring, confident of his chances of winning. The one who has never been touched before, never had a hard fight, that's a fighter who is scared. And if they aren't, they should be, because they have no actual idea how they're going to hold up. His point was that the boxer who has seen his own blood, who has felt

his teeth rattle beneath his opponent's fist, who has been downed in body but not in spirit, they know what they can take, they know what the darkness before the proverbial dawn feels like. Only they have a true and accurate sense of rhythms of a fight fight and what winning is going to require them to do. That sense comes from getting knocked around. That sense is only possible because of the hard times, the hard knocks they've experienced before. So yeah, things might not be great right now. Obviously, it would be nice if they were better, but if they were, you'd also be weaker

for it. Less informed. Less in touch with yourself and the fight you're also be weaker for it. Less informed. Lesson touch with yourself and the fight you're in. So squint and see that because it's an essential perspective. Hey, just a heads up. We are running another daily stoic challenge. This one is a 10-day spring forward challenge. Spring is here. I hope you get ready. I hope you seize this opportunity. Our 10-day challenge is filled with all sorts of actionable stuff.

More than 15,000 words of original content. Custom video messages from me. Challenge is every day that'll help you simplify your life. King control of your time. Face your fears. Expand your point of view. Band in harmful habits. Do more with this existence you've been getting. Marcus Aurelius' line was you could be good today instead you choose tomorrow. We'll choose today. Sign up for the 10-day spring forward daily stoic challenge at dailystoic.com slash challenge. Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic Early and Add Free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts.

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