The Daily Stoic - You Have To Take Care of Yourself

Episode Date: June 28, 2019

King George IV was a notorious glutton. His breakfast supposedly consisted of two pigeons, three steaks, a near full bottle of wine, and a glass of brandy. In time, he grew so fat he could no longer sleep laying down, or the weight of his own chest might asphyxiate him. The gout in his hands made it difficult to sign documents — he eventually had his attendants make a stamp of his signature to use instead. Still, he managed to father several illegitimate children while generally neglecting the business of being a king. King George was the type of person who apparently believed that he was exempt from the rules of health and humankind. That his body could and would endure unlimited abuse without consequence. Indeed, his last words, when years of bad habits and lethargy finally caught up with him at 3:30am in 1860, were:“Good God, what is this?” Then he realized what it was. “My boy,” he said as he grasped the hand of a page, “this is death.” It was almost as if he was surprised to find out that he was mortal...and that treating his body like a garbage can for four decades had only hastened his fate. While the Stoics practiced the art of memento mori—and knew that death was something that could randomly visit anyone, at any time—they still took pains to maintain their health. Marcus Aurelius’s doctor was Galen, one of the most famous physicians of antiquity, and presumably Marcus didn’t keep him around to shorten his life. No, he wanted to survive and be as healthy and strong as possible while he was alive. Seneca, for his part, flirted with vegetarianism, and his letters are filled with mentions of various cures he was seeking for his health. The sports metaphors in Epictetus and Marcus’s work also hint at the idea of active, strenuous lives. Health is wealth. Taking care of yourself is important. What good can you do in this world if you feel like shit all the time? Or if you lack the physical and moral strength—or in George’s case, even the basic mobility—to be of good to anyone? We are on this planet for a short amount of time. But if we practice bad habits, if we let our urges run wild, we will surely shorten that time. That’s not Stoic, that’s stupid. 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. You have to take care of yourself. King George IV was a notorious glutton. His breakfast supposedly consisted of two pigeons, three steaks and your full bottle of wine,

and a glass of brandy. In time he grew so fat he could no longer sleep laying down, or the weight of his own chest might asphyxiate him, the gout in his hands made it difficult to sign documents. He eventually had his attendance make a stamp of his signature to use instead. Still, he managed to father several illegitimate children while generally neglecting the business of being a king. King George was a type of person who apparently believed that he was exempt from the rules of health and humankind, that his body could and would endure unlimited abuse without

consequence. Indeed, his last words, when years of bad habits and lethargy finally caught up to him at 3am in 1860, were, good God, what is this? Then he realized what it was. My boy, he said as he grasped the hand of a page, this is death. It was almost as if he was surprised to find out that he was mortal and that treating his body like a garbage can for four decades had only hastened his fate.

While the Stoics practiced the art of memento-mory and knew that death was something that could randomly visit anyone at any time, they still took pains to maintain their health. Marcus Aurelius' doctor was Galen, one of the most famous physicians of antiquity, and presumably Marcus didn't keep him around to shorten his life.

No, he wanted to survive and to be as healthy and strong as possible while he was alive. Seneca, for his part, flirted with vegetarianism, and his letters are filled with mentions of various cures he was seeking for his health. The sports metaphors and epictetus and Marcus's work also hint at the idea of active, strenuous lives. Health is wealth. Taking care of yourself is important. What good can you do in this world if you feel like shit all the time, or if you lack the physical and moral strength,

or in George's case, even the basic mobility to be of good to anyone. We are on this planet for a short amount of time, but if we practice bad habits, if we let our urges run wild, we will surely shorten that time, and that's not stoic, it's stupid. We are all lucky enough to live at the freest time in the freest places in the history of the world,

but how many of us actually feel free? We don't, we are slaves to our vices and our devices, and it's awful. That's why we've made this new 21-day, daily stoic freedom challenge that's designed to help you break free from all those chains and to help you build better habits, clear out bad assumptions, bad thinking, bad ways of living. Check it out, it's at dailystilic.com slash challenge. It's going to start on July 8th,

which means signups will close at 11.59 on July 7th. It's your only chance to sign up, and this goes away forever. I can't wait to see you in it and I hope you are ready to be challenged. 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 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.