"I’m 56. I Lost My Faith, But I Found Strength in Stoicism"

0:00Ryan Holiday: Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world.

0:14Ryan Holiday: Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. I have to be honest, I'm a little tired recording this. I was in Los Angeles yesterday. I did real time with Bill Maher, which is fun. and then I was supposed to fly back after, try to miss as few bedtimes as possible. So I was going to get in after my kids went to sleep, but still be there when they woke up in the morning. My flight was delayed and delayed and delayed. I got home at 4.30 in the morning. It wasn't supposed to be a red eye, but it ended up turning into one. So I'm a smidge tired, but trying to make the best of it.

0:49Ryan Holiday: And I have a little special episode for you today. We asked you guys to send in some recordings of your journey with Stoicism, to feature some other voices on the podcast, some different perspectives. I want this thing to be accessible and practical, and also not just about me. So I'm going to bring you a story from a guy named Keith today. Keith is 56. He's a member of Daily Stoic Life, which we'd love to have you in. But his life got flipped around about two years ago. He moved from New York to Virginia. He's going to take care of his daughter. She's having relatively minor surgery. And it turned into something much more severe and life altering than that.

1:35Ryan Holiday: He basically spent the last two years sleeping on the couch of his daughter's one-bedroom apartment, cooking and cleaning and caring for her, managing every part of the household and their life. But he also had to witness a lot of suffering. And that suffering took him to some places he didn't expect, challenged some long-held assumptions. But stoicism was something that helped him endure all of that, but most inspiring, show up for her. Like people talk about the hero's journey, and I think we think it's these epic, you know, world-altering journeys. And it can be. It can certainly alter your world.

2:14Ryan Holiday: But I think you don't have to save hundreds of lives to be a hero. You can just help someone when they need it. And that's what Keith is going to talk about today. He's a youth empowerment and leadership coach. He's going to talk about this journey he went on with his daughter and where that journey took him. And as he says, he doesn't think he could have made it through the last two years without stoicism and putting stoicism into practice. So let's just get into it. Over 70 % of Americans are chronically dehydrated and 90 % don't get enough potassium, a key electrolyte responsible for energy, muscle function, and clear thinking.

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4:57Ryan Holiday: Join the million-plus people already building long-term wealth with confidence. Start earning up to 4.3 % variable APY today by heading over to Wealthfront.com. Terms and conditions apply. This has been a paid testimonial from a current Wealthfront client, which creates a conflict of interest. Client experiences will vary. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank, and the base APY is as of January 30th, 2026 and subject to change. For more information, please see the episode description. Good morning. My name is Keith Senzer. I was going through a daily stoic today, and I noticed something at the bottom about sending an audio clip to be on the podcast.

5:36I'm going to be honest with you, I have no problem being on the podcast. I don't know that my story is going to be worthy enough to want to be on there. I think it is, but really, I just wanted to share this, find a place to share this where you can actually understand the impact that stoicism's had on me. That's really more why I'm doing this. I'm 56. I'm from New York. My wife and my son are in New York. I live in Virginia with my daughter. I moved down here two years ago, unexpectedly, not permanently, but it seems permanent. She had an ankle surgery. She's now 29. And I moved down here to take care of her after the first surgery, thinking be a couple of weeks and six surgeries later and a horrible diagnosis of complex regional pain syndrome.

6:20I'm still here. She's in and out of hospitals. She's in and out of clinics. I can't even begin to tell you how incredibly hard this is to watch your kids suffer with the amount of pain she's in, still try to have a career. And I'm sleeping on a couch in a one bedroom apartment for two years. I do everything. I take care of her dog. I take care of the house. I cook, I clean, you name it. Right now she's in the hospital. It's been six weeks that I'm back and forth to the hospital every day. It's not easy. I myself am a youth empowerment coach and leadership coach. And that's always been my dream.

6:56And I just want to share that I do not think I would have been able to get through these last two years and continue to do what I need to do for my daughter without stoicism. I'm Jewish, conservative Jew. And to be honest with you, I've lost all faith. My wife's still observant. I've given up. I see God as a construct for many of the things in my life that I've been through. I'm a good soul. I am. And just too much suffering. And I know some of the suffering is supposed to teach us and guide us, and it has. But there's a limit to what I think any person should have. And what's going on with my daughter right now, I've lost faith.

7:34I really do not believe in a higher power anymore. I'm very spiritual. I believe in fate. I believe in the universe, working certain ways. You know, I'm a fati, right? I believe all that. But I joined the Dalek Stoic community about a year and a half ago. I've been following you for many years. I've read all your books. I just want to say that I do not think I would have been able to get through what I'm going through without it. You know, the understanding of you can't control what happens, only how you respond. That's just, that's a big one for me. But just reading through meditations and just highlighting passages and so much speaks to me.

8:08so much speaks to me in the books that you've written, so much speaks to me in philosophy in general, and it's truly, truly guided me. And what's interesting is, you know, this journey I'm on now with my career, which is doing pretty well as a coach for youth, you know, that's something I wanted to do as a younger kid. And I had ADHD, but I didn't know it. It was undiagnosed. And my parents pushed me to hospitality. So I was in the hospitality field and I was in the catering business for many years. And I came back to this and I thought, this is my journey. This is my purpose but as i'm seeing this is my purpose was to help my daughter heal and find that healing space and you know be with her and take care of her until we can get her to a place where we can put this behind us um so what i thought my hero's journey was to help youth i think now my hero's journey is to help my daughter and helping youth is just another great thing that i get to do but stoicism has literally played the most vital role in me getting through this.

9:07I do not think I'd been able to do this if I didn't adopt that philosophy and read these books and start to really put into practice everything that stoicism is about and everything that Ryan teaches. So again, I'm sending this because I feel like you should just know the impact that you've had on a particular person's life. I think it's important to let people know the impact they've had, because I would want to know that too. It's just great to know that you help people. Thank you for listening. I hope this wasn't too long.

9:36Ryan Holiday: I really appreciate you sharing. That was incredible. I get emails similar to Keith's from time to time, and I sometimes don't know what to say, but I usually just say something like, I'm glad to hear that stoicism stood up under the trial you subjected it to. And it sounds like it did that here. It sounds like Keith stood up under the trial that life, fortune, fate, whatever you want to call it, subjected him and his daughter to. And that's incredible. I'd love to hear some other people's stories about their journey with stoicism. You can email the audio to podcast at dailystoic.com. Claire, our producer, will go through it.

10:10Ryan Holiday: And you might get to hear it here on the podcast.

10:43Ryan Holiday: We'll be right back. Click the banner to learn more. Retail sales only. Some exclusions apply. See store for details. Delivery available on qualifying orders.