The Daily Stoic - You Do the Math

Episode Date: May 1, 2020

"At least 200,000 people are marked for death worldwide and they don’t even know it. They are the back half of 'the curve.' They are essentially walking dead.That is the cold, harsh reality of statistics. Of the numbers."Ryan describes why we can't let our guards down against COVID-19—and why we must use it as a reminder that we could leave life at any moment.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanholidayInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanholiday/Facebook: http://facebook.com/ryanholidayYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee 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. You do the math. Tens of thousands of people are marked for death. They don't even know it.

They are essentially walking dead. That is the cold harsh reality of statistics of the numbers. Numbers don't have feelings, they don't care about individuals, about goals, about unfinished business, about anything. The numbers just are. And sometimes they sentence us to fates we'd rather not think about. Like a certain number of people will be diagnosed with cancer each year, a certain percentage of people are admitted to Harvard, a certain number of planes will crash from the sky. Here's another number, right now the conservative forecast for deaths from COVID-19 is between 100 and 200,000 worldwide, the cumulative total is much, much higher. Thus far, approximately 50,000 Americans have lost their lives.

We're succeeding at flattening the curve and still thousands of people die every day with tubes down their throats and their family prohibited from their bed sides. In moments like this, we would be wise not to look away from, but to earnestly engage with this sobering, memento-mory exercise that tens of thousands remain marked to die, those walking dead, those poor folks who might not even be infected yet or know their number has come up.

They may well be you, or they could be your partner, your spouse, your son, or daughter, your mom, or dad, your grandmother, your neighbor, your employer, your mentor, they could be your partner, your spouse, your son, or daughter, your mom, or dad, your grandmother, your neighbor, your employer, your mentor. They could be some or all of them. This idea that we are on the prescribed list, which in ancient Rome was the list of citizens marked for execution. It's not just theoretical. It is real. 647,000 Americans die from heart disease each year. 606,000 from cancer, 167,000 from accidents or unintentional injuries, 159,000 from respiratory diseases, 147,000 from stroke. Those are real deaths. You could be among them. You could be one of those. Eventually, it's guaranteed you will be

guaranteed. Those are the numbers. We have all been selected to die. The only hope is that we spend a long time on that list before a number gets pulled, that we spend our time on death row wisely. Marcus said, you could leave life right now, let that determine what you do and say and think. And you wrote that during the plague. Today, let that determine what you do and say and think, and you wrote that during the plague. Today, let's add you have life right now, let that determine what you do and say and think, let that make you brave also. As Seneca quoted many times as he then faced himself, all that a death sentence from a tyrant or a pandemic can do is take you more quickly somewhere you are already going and you would know.

Life is short, numbers are harsh, there's nothing we can do about that, but we can be brave and be present and live while we can. And of course, hope each day to be spared for a little while longer. For the last six months, Daily Stoke has been developing the Daily Stoke Habits Challenge, daily stoke habits challenge, habits for success, habits for happiness. We're inviting you to spend the next six weeks challenging

yourself to change what you repeatedly do. And we are promising that if you can do that, you can achieve araté personally and professionally. If you want to do or be something epitita said, make a habit of it. So let's make a habit of Arate. And let's remember his most urgent and challenging question. How much longer are you going to wait to demand the best of yourself? How about not one second longer? Let's start today. If you want to join us in this challenge, I'll be doing it alongside you. It's six weeks of really awesome life altering habits based on Stoke Wisdom.

You can check that out at dailystoke.com slash habits. DailyStoke.com slash habits. Can't wait to see you. Let's change and improve together. 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.