The Daily Stoic - You Decide The End of The Story

Episode Date: May 9, 2019

When James Stockdale was shot down in Vietnam, he was taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese. He spent seven years being tortured and subjected to unimaginable loneliness and terror. He had little choice over the fact that he was shot down, or that he was taken prisoner. But what he told himself—and what helped him endure this terrible ordeal—was the sense of agency that Stoicism gave him, the sense that he could ultimately use this experience as fuel. As he said later: “I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.” The sheer bravery and strength Stockdale exhibited by truly embodying this notion of amor fati gives one goosebumps, even some 50 years later. It’s just unreal. It’s a reminder that for everything outside of our control, we retain—at the core of our being—an incredible power: The power to choose what we do with what happens to us. The power to decide what role an event will play in our lives. The power to write the end of our own story. No one can take that away from us. People can hurt us. Money can be lost. Jobs can disappear. Cars can crash into each other. Stoicism can’t change what happened. No philosophy is a time machine. But what we can do, what the Stoic practice is meant to help us do, is to prevail over what happened, and decide what comes next.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 the 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 dailystowach.com. You decide the end of the story. When James Stockdale was shot down in Vietnam, he was taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese. He spent seven years being tortured and subjugated to unimaginable loneliness and terror. He had little choice over the fact that he was shot down, or that he was taken prisoner.

But what he told himself, and what helped him endure this terrible ordeal, was the sense of agency that stoicism gave him, the sense that he could ultimately use this experience as fuel. As he said later, I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life,

which, in retrospect, I would not trade. The sheer bravery and strength, stockdale exhibited by truly embodying this notion of a Morphati gives one goosebumps, even some 50 years later. It's just unreal. It's a reminder that for everything outside of our control, we retain at the core of our

being an incredible power. The power to choose what we do with what happens to us. The power to decide what role and event will play in our lives. The power to write and our own story. No one can take that away from us. People can hurt us. Money can be lost. Jobs can disappear.

Cars can crash into each other. Stoicism can't change what happened. No philosophy is a time machine. But what we can do, what the Stoic practice is meant to help us do, is to prevail over what happened and to decide what comes next. 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. 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.