The Daily Stoic - BONUS | Another Year Gone By. What Have You Done?

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

We’ve been blessed with another go, or at least the start of another go. Will we take it? Or will we go on the same as we did before and before and before?No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.👉 Get The Daily Stoic New Year New You & all other Daily Stoic courses for FREE when you join Daily Stoic Life | dailystoic.com/lifeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, it's Ryan. I try not to make too many puns on my last name because I've been hearing it my whole life. But if you want to give a holiday gift of me, Ryan Holiday, and the Daily Stoic, well, you can. We have a special offer. If you want to give Daily Stoic premium as a gift, you can do that. Your friends, your family members, coworkers, whoever you give it to can get ad-free episodes, early access, and exclusive bonus content. Plus, we'll even throw in premium episodes of the Daily Dad Podcast. You can get both premium plans together for 25% off. It's a limited offer available now through the end of the holidays. That's through December 31st.

You can click below to get it for them today. Happy holidays. 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 to 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. Another year gone by. What have you done? It went by fast, didn't it? 12 months. Just 12 months ago, you were right here thinking about how 2025 would go, thinking about changes you were trying to make, things you were going to start, things you were going to stop. Well, it's like that verse in the beautiful John Lennon and Yoko Ono Christmas songs. So this is Christmas. And what have you done?

Another year over. And you won't just begun. The first part of that haunts us a little. There was more that we could have done. There were things we fell short with. There was life left unlived. And it's a little bittersweet and sad, isn't it? A little disappointing, even shameful.

But it's that final line that has the hope in it, as well as the imperative. We've been blessed with another go, or at least the start of another go. Will we take it? Or will we go on the same as we did before? and before and before. Marcus Aurelius had a powerful thought exercise that is worth trying here at the close of the year. Think of yourself as dead, he says. Imagine that your life has come to its end.

Think about what you left undid. Think about the perspective this puts on things. Think about what you'll regret, what you'll wish you could do differently, what you wish you'd started and stopped. Now, he says, you've been given a second chance. So take what's left and live it properly. 2025 is over, but now 2026 is just beginning. Live it properly.

Thank you.