The Daily Stoic - It’s Hard To Be a Person In This World | Your Actual Needs Are Small

Episode Date: September 29, 2022

Even if the changes are positive, we can appreciate that they’ve been difficult for people. There is so much to navigate, to be sensitive to in this modern world of ours. People are expected to be tolerant of things that just a few years ago were considered totally out of the mainstream. Words and descriptors, even the names of countries (or the pronunciations of the names of cities) seem to change by the day (with painful consequences if you screw them up)...📕 Ryan Holiday's new book "Discipline Is Destiny" is available for pre-order now! We’ve put together a bunch of cool preorder bonuses—among them is a signed and numbered page from the original manuscript of the book. You can learn more about those and how to receive them over at Dailystoic.com/preorder. ✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook See 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 Stoke Podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoke Podcast. On Thursdays, we do double duty, not just reading our daily meditation, but also reading a passage from the book, The Daily Stokeic, 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance in the Art of Living, which I wrote with my wonderful co-author

and collaborator, Steve Enhancelman. And so today we'll give you a quick meditation from one of the Stoics, from Epictetus Marks, Relius, Seneca, then some analysis for me. And then we send you out into the world to do your best to turn these words into works. 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. It's hard to be a person in this world. Even if the changes are positive, we can appreciate that they've been difficult for people. There is so much to navigate, to be sensitive to in this modern world of ours. People are expected to be tolerant of things that just a few years ago were considered totally out of the mainstream, words and descriptors, even the names of countries or the pronunciations of the names of cities seem to change by the day with painful consequences if you screw up. There is an incredible amount of news thrown at us and no small amount of technology required to access it

to say nothing of the brain power to make sense of it all. We're expected to give things to our children to meet expectations emotionally, financially, time-wise that no generation before was asked to do. And this is not a controversial argument. The future is wonderful in many ways, but it's been harder on some than others. We can imagine that if Cato was alive today, he might struggle with the fluidity and the newness of a lot of it. As his own great-grandfather did back an ancient Rome.

We can also imagine that if Marcus Aurelius was alive today, he might be found writing in his meditations, reminders to be patient with these people, to try to understand things from their perspective. They're scared he might say because change is difficult, and Marcus himself might be struggling with resistance to some of these changes himself. No one is wrong on purpose, he might say. They're just cut off from truth. Their resistance, or entrangements, or reactionary responses are not coming from a bad place.

They're just having a hard time. And of course, you'd also remember that it's never not been true in history that a certain percentage of the population just resists progress. Because they can't handle new ways of doing things, even if those things make the world better and more fair for everyone. It's hard to be a person in this world, maybe not as much for you, but definitely it is for some people.

So you must be patient, you must be understanding, you must not assume the worst, you must do what you can to help and put up with the people that you can't. Things are hard enough, you don't need to make them harder for them or yourself. Your actual needs are small. This is the September 29th entry in the Daily Stoet, and I'm reading to you today from the Daily Stoet 366 Meditations on Wisdom Perseverance in the Art of Living by yours truly. My co-author and translator, Steve Enhancelman. You can get signed copies, by the way, in the Daily Stoic store,

over a million copies of the Daily Stoic in print now. It's been just such a lovely experience to watch it. It's been more than 250 weeks, consecutive weeks on the best cellist. It's just an awesome experience. But I hope you check it out. We have a premium leather edition at store.dailystoke.com as well. But let's get on with today's reading. Nothing can satisfy greed, but even a small measure satisfies nature. So it is that the poverty of an exile brings no misfortune. For no place of exile is so barren as to not produce ample support for a person.

This is Seneca in his consolation to his mother. It can be beneficial to reflect on what you used to accept as normal. Consider your first paycheck and how big that seemed. Or your first apartment with its own bedroom and bathroom in the ROM and you gladly scarfed down in the kitchen. Today as you become more successful, these conditions would hardly feel sufficient. In fact, you probably want even more than what you have right now. Yet just a few years ago these paltry conditions were not only enough, they felt great. When we become successful, we forget how strong we used to be. We are so

used to what we have, we have believe that we die without it. Of course, this is just the comfort talking. In the days of world wars, our grandparents and parents may do with rationed gas, butter, and electricity. They were fine, just as you have been fine when you had less. Remember today that you are okay if things suddenly go wrong. Your actual needs are quite small. There is very little that could happen that would truly threaten your survival. Think about that and adjust your worries and fears accordingly. To get personal for a second, I think about the job that I dropped out of college for. I told this story before, but I remember I was offered $30,000.

That was my salary. And I remember thinking, I may have even set it out loud. And I'm both mortified and fined hilarious. I remember thinking, what am I going to do with all this money? That was so much money to me. As it happens, like two days after I started, they knocked my salary down, because the partner who'd hired me

hadn't cleared it with the other partners, and I actually made more like 26 or something. But it was more than enough for me. I think about what I got paid for my first book, when I think about what I'm getting paid on now, my 12th or, it's all so much extra, so much more than I was once happy to have. And that success should make you grateful,

it shouldn't make you paranoid, right? That success should, like, if you take it for granted, you're being ungrateful, I guess is what I'm saying. And when you realize how little you need, it allows you to feel the true wealth that you have, the true excess that you have, and realize how much fat, how much space is there. You don't need to protect it so tightly,

it's house money at this point. You know, it's funny, because discipline is destiny just came out two days ago. We're still offering the pre-order bonus to get that at dailystoke.com slash pre-order, pick up the book, anywhere books are sold including here at the PADYPORCH. But there is a passage where I talk about this in discipline is destiny, which let me grab real fast. I got galley here, so I'm recording this before the thing, but we talk about seeking

avoiding, I talk in part one about avoiding the superfluous, right? And I tell a story of Cato the elder and he says, nothing is cheap if it is superfluous. He's talking about cultivating a place where you don't have more than you need and people can't take that from you, right? And I say this in the chapter, say, think about how content you were with less, just a few years ago, how much more frugal you were by necessity, how much less you got by on.

Do you look back at those younger years when you were striving and struggling as somehow lacking? As something you're bitter about? That usually those were happy days. We almost missed them. Things were simpler than cleaner. There was more clarity. Most of the luxuries that lay in the future, we did not even know about. We didn't pine for them. We were ignorant of even their possibility. And when you realize this that the less you desire the richer you are, the freer you are, the more powerful you are, you have

something that can't be taken away from you. So that's what the Stoics are trying to think about. Even think about Seneca. Seneca is writing this letter to his mother, he's in exile, but this is the second time this has happened to him. He realized that he couldn't cling too tightly to any of these things, and I think that gave him a kind of strength. It's what allowed him to comfort her in this difficult moment. So that's what we're talking about here. We're not saying you starve yourself. We're not saying you experience nothing. You just realize that it's extra and you don't need it all. And that's a little preview of the new book, Disciplines Destiny, which you can grab now.

Anywhere books are sold. I appreciate all the support of the book. Thank you everyone. How it does first week all. I have no idea, especially as I'm recording this well in advance. But I already am grateful for what everyone has said and the support that I've heard about from the book and I appreciate you supporting. If you haven't yet, you can check it out at dailystoke.com.

Preorder or get disciplined as destiny, the power of self control anywhere books are sold including audiobook, ebook, whatever. Thanks everyone. Thanks so much for listening. If you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes that would mean so much to us and it would really help the show, we appreciate it and I'll see you next episode. Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic 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. Celebrity feuds are high stakes. You never know if you're just going to end up on Page Six or Du Moir or in court. I'm Matt Bellesai. And I'm Sydney Battle, and we're the host of Wondery's new podcast, Dis and Tell, where each episode we unpack a different iconic celebrity feud from the buildup, why it happened, and the repercussions. What does our obsession with these feuds say about us? The first season is packed with some pretty messy pop culture drama,

but none is drawn out in personal as Brittany and Jamie Lynn Spears. When Brittany's fans form the free Brittany movement dedicated to fring her from the infamous conservatorship, Jamie Lynn's lack of public support, it angered some fans, a lot of them. It's a story of two young women who had their choices taken away from them by their controlling parents, but took their anger out on each other.

And it's about a movement to save a superstar, which set its sights upon anyone who failed to fight for Britney. Follow Dissentel wherever you get your podcast. You can listen ad free on Amazon Music or the Wondering App. fight for Brittany. Follow Dissentel wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music or the Wondery app.