The Daily Stoic - Are You Holding Your Shield?

Episode Date: June 15, 2020

"The world has asked a lot of us over the last few months." Ryan describes the sacrifices we've all had to make and why they were so necessary on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***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: http://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 Stood Podcast early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wundery's podcast business wars. And in our new season, Walmart must fight off target. The new discounter that's both savvy and fashion forward. Listen to business wars on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. music or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Daily Stoic. For each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the 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 dailystowach.com. Are you holding your shield? The world has asked a lot of us over the last few months. We had to stop traveling. We had to shut down our businesses. We had to take our kids out of school. It asked even more of some of us, the doctors who had to work around the clock shifts, the nurses who did the same.

There are those among us whose businesses will never reopen and whose jobs will never come back. There are some of us who didn't get to say goodbye to people we loved who had to watch funerals over the internet. In a beautiful article a few weeks ago, Stephen Pressfield, who we interviewed with Daily Stoke recently, spoke about how the sport that we were going to be who had to watch funerals over the internet. In a beautiful article a few weeks ago, Steven Pressfield, who we interviewed with Daily Stoic recently, spoke about how the Spartans,

the ancient Greeks who the Stoics admired so much, would have responded to this kind of collective sacrifice. He quotes Plutarch who explained why the Spartans punished with death, the soldier who dropped his shield, but not his other protective gear. Because the helmet and breastplate are warned to protect the individual alone, Plutarch said, but the shield is born to protect the whole line. Why are we asked to wear surgical or face masks in public to practice social distancing to observe self-quarantining, Stephen asks. Answer, because these practices are not for the individual alone,

but for the protection of the whole line. This moment we are in is a test. It's a test of your character. It's a test of your stoicism. It's asking whether you just pay lip service to sympathy, or whether you actually believe it, whether you can embody your philosophy, as Epic Tita said. We talked about this with John Brownstein. The mask is not good for you. Social distancing is not for you. It's for the grandmother of the person you never met. It's for the chemo patient.

It's because you might be a carrier and not know it. And so in wearing a mask, you protect the strangers you see and the strangers they see too. In deciding to eat the deposit on your family vacation, to pay for extra sick leave for your workers, to donate to a food bank, you are not helping yourself, you are doing something far more important and far more noble.

You are protecting the whole line and as a stoic, as a Spartan, as a citizen, that is your job. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcast app. And if you don't get the Daily Stoke email, go to dailystoke.com slash email. Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke early and ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts.

Ah, the Bahamas. What if you could live in a penthouse above the crystal clear ocean working during the day and partying at night with your best friends and have it be 100% paid for? FTX Founder Sam Bankman Freed lived that dream life, but it was all funded, with other people's money, but he allegedly stole. Many thought Sam Bankman Freed was changing the game as he graced the pages of Forbes and Vanity Fair. Some involved in crypto saw him as a breath of fresh air, from the usual Wall Street buffs with his casual dress and ability to play League of Legends during boardroom meetings.

But in less than a year, his exchange would collapse. An SPF would find himself in a jail cell, with tens of thousands of investors blaming him for their crypto losses. From Bloomberg and Wondering comes Spellcaster, a new six-part docu-series about the meteoric rise and spectacular fall of FTX, and its founder, Sam Beckman-Freeed. Follow Spellcaster, wherever you get your podcast. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to episodes ad-free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today.