Just Keep Going | Solve Problems Early

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1:30Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast. On Friday, we do double duty, not just reading our daily meditation, but also reading a passage from The Daily Stoic, my book, 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living, which I wrote with my wonderful collaborator, translator, and literary agent, Stephen Hanselman. So today, we'll give you a quick meditation from The Stoics with some analysis from me, and then we'll send you out into the world to turn these words into works.

2:10Just keep going. The Stoics accepted that life could be cruel and random. They knew people were stupid and annoying. They did not deny that death was ever present. And you might think that the result of these beliefs was a dark and dour worldview. Certainly many critics of the Stoics have registered that, or potential fans of the Stoics have turned away after a few passages of Marcus Aurelius' meditations or Epictetus' writings. Regardless of how realistic they might have been in their assessment of the world, the Stoics were, on the whole, not despondent. They worked hard at their jobs. They created beautiful art.

2:47They went to the theater. They got married. They tried to make a positive difference in the lives of the people around them. You want to call Marcus Aurelius resigned and pessimistic, the guy buried six of his children and he continued to get out of bed each morning. This is a statement of profound hopefulness and meaning, as well as fortitude and character. Whatever it is, whatever you're going through, whatever it's forced you to understand about this thing called life, well, it is not at odds with the ability, with the need to just keep going, to put one foot in front of the other, to do your best, to make a tiny contribution.

3:25is Stoics managed. So can you.

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4:51Today's quote is from Seneca Moral Letters 116. There is no vice which lacks a defense, none that at the outset isn't modest and easily intervened. But after this, the trouble spreads widely. If you allow it to get started, you won't be able to control it when it stops. Every emotion is at first weak. Later, it rouses itself and gathers strength as it moves along. It's easier to slow it down than to supplant it. Publilius Sirius, he was a Roman slave and a Stoic philosopher, he said, rivers are easiest to cross at their source. And I think that's what Seneca means too. The raging waters and deadly currents of a bad habit, ill discipline, chaos, dysfunction, somewhere they began as no more than a slight trickle, somewhere.

5:45They are a placid lake or a pond, even a bubbling underground spring. What would you rather do? Nearly drown in a dangerous crossing in a few weeks across now while it's still easy. It's up to you. You know, there's that expression, you nip it in the bud. That's what I think. Um, I'll give you a somewhat of a personal example. I am not an addict in the sense that I am like in recovery, but I find that it's just about anything I do, I can do compulsively, tend to do compulsively and can very easily develop an unhealthy relationship with. So people ask me, like, what did the Stoics say about drinking or drugs?

6:35Do you do those things? And I don't. I don't do them exactly because the Stoics forbid them or that I specifically have a problem abusing them. I just know it's a slippery slope for me. It's a road better not gone down by me. So I nip it in the bud. I just sort of have a bright policy. I just, I don't really drink. I don't smoke. I don't do drugs. I just don't do it. I keep it away. It's easier for me now, like, you know, I sometimes joke, I was like, I don't really like the taste because I don't. I don't enjoy the taste of, let's say, alcohol. And people go, oh, it's an acquired taste. and I go, but yeah, knowing myself, getting over that hurdle is not going to put me in a better position now.

7:34Now I have the instinctive, almost childlike aversion to it and I want to keep it that way. Because once I get over it, that buffer is not there anymore. So I like to joke I don't do acquired tastes. Um, the point is, um, not doing the things at all, not putting myself in a position where I can abuse or do them to excess has been quite beneficial to me. Um, another way to think about this would be like, what are the, what's the person that really pisses you off or what's a subject matter that you find when you talk to your parents about is always a source of conflict or argument. Well, maybe just steer clear of that all together, right?

8:24In the way, again, like a gambling addict doesn't go to Las Vegas. Cross the things early, nip them in the bud early, notice the warning signs, notice the grumblings, notice the aversions and listen to that. Listen to that voice, head it off at the pass, right? Solve it in advance. put yourself in a position where you don't need superhuman willpower, where you don't need strength and perseverance and the inner citadel. You don't need that stuff. That's what I think the Stoics are talking about. And to me, this is a nice definition of temperance, moderation, sort of having a sense of self-awareness, what you can do, what you can't do, who you are, how you're wired, think about it that way, and then make your decisions accordingly.

9:19And if some people think that's weird or lame or unusual or you're missing out on fun, you know, that's their issue. You know yourself. You know what you should be thinking about, what you know you should be doing, the decisions you can make to put yourself in a position to be successful and choose and act accordingly.

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