The Daily Stoic - Are You Having Trouble With These Changes? | Practice Letting Go

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

Culture has changed. Technology has changed. Work has changed. Politics have changed. The environment has changed. You think these changes could have been prevented. Yet what you’re forgetting is that this is how it’s always been.👉 Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/📕 Our favorite translation of Seneca’s essays on grief and loss, Hardship and Happiness (The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca) is available at The Painted Porch | https://www.thepaintedporch.com/📓 If you liked today's episode, you'll love The Daily Stoic Journal: The Daily Stoic Journal: 366 Days of Writing and Reflection on The Art of Living: https://store.dailystoic.com/🎥 Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Get Stoic inspired books, medallions, and prints to remember these lessons at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a stoic-inspired meditation designed to help you find strength and insight and wisdom into everyday life. Each one of these episodes is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women help you learn from them. to follow in their example and to start your day off with a little dose of courage and discipline and justice and wisdom. For more, visitdailystoic.com. It's a lot. Culture has changed. Technology has changed. Work has changed. Politics have changed. The environment has changed. And we're having trouble dealing with some of these changes, living with these changes that we didn't ask for. You know, maybe they could have been prevented. But what we forget when we complain about change is that it's always been this way. In fact, nothing has really changed at all. we can imagine Mark Serialis reminding us because change is a constant from his time to ours.

Indeed, can you think of any time in history where culture was not changing, when technology wasn't changing things, when the economy wasn't shifting, when politicians weren't coming and going from office, when policies weren't falling in and out of favor, when the world around us wasn't changing, whether it was from storms or man-made causes? In fact, you wouldn't be here right now, if not for those changes, as Marcus Relius points out in meditations. We are here as a result of the ceaseless, merciless, but also sometimes wonderful river of change that flows through the world. And we are here because whether people liked all those changes or not,

they figured out how to endure and survive and even thrive within it. We are here because someone protected us and took care of us during the scary changes that surrounded our childhood and our vulnerable years. And now we must figure out how to do the same, how to endure and survive and thrive, how to accept and accommodate, how to protect and stay good, how to stay sane, how to stay focused and flexible, how to change with all these changes. It was a long crazy day of the office. We called each other. She was driving home. I was driving from picking up the kids.

And we said, what are we going to do for dinner? And that's when I remembered, we had Hello Fresh in the fridge. Hello Fresh is the number one meal kit in America, making home cooking easier with chef-crafted recipes and fresh ingredients delivered straight to your door. In this fall, they're serving up even more to love. This isn't the Hello Fresh you remember, but it's bigger. It's doubled its menu. It's healthier. They've got a healthier menu, including 50s.

high-protein recipes each week, and it's tastier. You can get steak and seafood recipes delivered every week for no extra cost. Discover new seasonal produce each week from leaks to broccoli to Italian eggplant and more. As I said, we love HelloFresh because they curate meals that are not only easy to make, but they are delicious. The best way to cook just got better, go to hellofresh.com slash stoic 10 FM to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast for life, one per box with active subscription free meals applied as a discount on first box. New subscribers only varies by plan. That's hellofresh.com slash stoic 10 FM to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast for life. Look, when you're hiring, you don't want just anyone. You need the right person with the right

background who can move your business forward. And when I need candidates who match what we're looking for at Daily Stoic for any of my businesses, we trust Indeed sponsored jobs, because when you're hiring, Indeed is all you need. You can give your job the best chance to be seen with Indeed's sponsored jobs. They can help you stand out and hire quality candidates who can drive the results you need. And according to Indeed, Data sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed, are 90% more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs because you reach a bigger pool of quality candidates. And you should join the 1.6 million companies that sponsor their jobs with Indeed. People are finding quality hires on Indeed right now. In the minute we've been

talking, companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed. Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes, less stress, less time, more results now with Indeed sponsored jobs. and listeners of this show will get a $75-sponsored job credit to help you get your job, the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash DailyStock. Just go to Indeed.com slash Daily Stoic right now to support the show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash daily stoic terms and conditions apply. If you're hiring, do it the right way with Indeed. Practice letting go.

We suffer when we lose. things we love. We suffer most when we lose people we love, a natural and unavoidable part of life. The Stoics say this suffering is increased by our belief that we possess the objects of our love, that they are, as we like to say, a part of us. This belief doesn't increase our love or care for them, but rather it is a form of clinging that ignores the simple fact that we don't control what will happen, not to our bodies, let alone to the ones we love. Epictetus taught a powerful exercise that every time you wish a dear child family member or friend good night, remember that these people are like precious breakable glass

and remember how dramatically things can change while you sleep. Marcus too struggled to practice this with his own family as he tucked them in at night. The point isn't to be morbid but to create a sense of appreciation and a kind of humility. Don't take anyone, especially someone you love, for granted this week. When you experience the pangs of losing someone, don't treat them. it like a part of yourself but as a breakable glass so that when it falls you will remember that and you won't be troubled so too whenever you kiss your child sibling or friend don't layer on top of the experience all the things you might wish but hold them back and stop them just as those who ride

behind triumphant generals remind them that they are immortal in the same way remind yourself that your precious one isn't one of your possessions but something given for now not forever It's Epictetus, the discourses. But the wise person can lose nothing. Such a person has everything stored up for themselves, leaving nothing to fortune. Their own goods are held firm, bound in virtue, which requires nothing from chance, and therefore can't be either increased or diminished. And that's Seneca on the firmness of the wise. The reality is nothing is here forever. Things can be taken from us. The things we love can go missing, can get hurt, can be lost. The possessions we cherish can break, be stolen, be damaged beyond repair.

The Stoics wanted us to be prepared for this, not callously, not, it's kind of detached, but if we think about this exercise of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus who are reminding themselves as they tuck their kids into bed that this could be the last time they see them, look, the point of that wasn't to make the pain of losing the children, and Marcus Reelius did lose many children before adulthood, which is an incredible expression to even be able to say, It's like more than five, probably less than seven kids. We're not totally sure, but had to bury not just one child, but more than one child. The fact that he did this exercise did not make that less painful.

That's not what this is about at all. It's that he got every minute that he could with those children. When I think about tucking my children into bed and I do this, it reminds me not to rush through it. It reminds me not to prioritize getting back to Netflix or answering my email as somehow being more. important than reading another story to my boy or just laying there listening to him sleep, it's to fully drink in and be present while we're here. So obviously, I hope that no one loses anyone, but I can't guarantee that. I can't, no one can prevent that fully from happening. That's just the reality of being a fragile human being. What we can do is not take those people

for granted while they are here. What we can do is tell them what we feel about them while they're here. What we can do is be our best selves while they are here. And we can, when we do lose them or lose things, have to accept that this is a part of life. This is the bargain that we made at birth, right? Nothing lasts forever. Nothing is ours fully. And that these are all rentals and the bill comes to or they have to be returned at some point. I do recommend if you are struggling, if you have lost someone, you know, the Stoic doesn't say stuff that grief down and pretend that it doesn't exist. It's process it, work through it. I would strongly recommend some of Seneca's essays, his consolations. He wrote one to his mother.

He wrote one to the loss of a friend who lost her father. You can also just Google Seneca grief, Daily Stoic, and I think our sort of piece on it comes up. But I've returned to those essays over and over again. Plutarch has a beautiful little consolation to his wife after they lost a child. The ancient world was cruel, but, you know, the modern world isn't that much kinder or less capricious. So be safe, be smart. This isn't to say don't wear a mask and go around and be stupid. No, it's saying that do everything you can that's in your control, just be aware that a good chunk of what happens is not in your control. And that's why we can't take anything for granted. It's why we can't rush through. It's why we can't waste time. Got to be there, be there for

people, be there for yourself, be smart. Practice letting go. Be prepared. And love, love, love, while you still can. Also, there is a great Philip Larkin poem about, I think it's called the Hedgehog, about loving and being kind while there's still time. So if I leave you with one more recommendation, it would be that. And we will talk next week. Hey, it's Ryan. Thank you for listening to the Daily Stoag podcast. I just wanted to say we so appreciate it. We love serving you.

It's amazing to us that over 30 million people have downloaded these episodes in the couple years we've been doing it. It's an honor. Please spread the word, tell people about it, and this isn't to sell anything. I just wanted to say thank you. Look, ads are annoying. They are to be avoided, if at all possible.

I understand as a content creator why they need to exist. That's why I don't begrudge them when they appear on the shows that I listen to. But again, as a person who has to pay a podcast producer, and has to pay for equipment and for the studio and the building that the studio is in. It's a lot to keep something like The Daily Stoic going. So if you want to support a show but not listen to ads, well, we have partnered with Supercast to bring you an ad-free version of Daily Stoic. We're calling it Daily Stoic Premium.

And with premium, you can listen to every episode of the Daily Stoic podcast, completely ad-free. No interruptions. just the ideas, just the messages, just the conversations you came here for. And you can also get early access to episodes before they're available to the public. And we're going to have a bunch of exclusive bonus content and extended interviews in there just for Daily Stoic Premium members as well. If you want to remove distractions, go deeper into Stoicism and support the work we do here. Well, it takes less than a minute to sign up for Daily Stoic Premium and we are offering a limited time

discount of 20% off your first year. Just go to dailystoke.com slash premium to sign up right now or click the link in the show descriptions to make those ads go away.