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3.0 Words is back for another season exclusively on Amazon Music.

The lowest people to bring in three words of meaning and significance to their lives.

And we use that as a springboard for conversation. And then at the end of the show, we ask them for a word that they'll be happy never to hear again.

So that's 3.0 Words with May John Bishop and Tony Pitts.

Listen to every Friday exclusively on Amazon Music.

Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stood Podcast.

On Thursdays, we do double duty, not just reading our daily meditation, but also reading a passage from the book, The Daily Stoic, 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living, which I wrote with my wonderful co-author and collaborator, Stephen Hanselman.

And so today, we'll give you a quick meditation from one of the Stoics, from Epipetus Markis, really a Seneca, then some analysis from me, and then we send you out into the world to do your best to turn these words into works.

A reason to stick around.

It's one of the darkest and most sensitive subjects in Stoicism. Suicide. Cato took his own life rather than submit to Caesar Seneca, took his own life under duress from Nero.

The Stoics spoke of suicide as the open door. A choice opened to us at any moment.

Given the tyrants, the evil, the slavery, and the torture that the Stoics faced in their day, their contemplation of suicide makes sense.

Here in the modern world, in the time of a pandemic, an economic uncertainty that has depression rates spiking, it's worth taking a moment to remind ourselves that this is a subject that should not be taken lightly or spoken of flippantly.

The Stoics may have believed that suicide was a choice we all have, but they were still pretty clear. It was the wrong choice.

Marcus Aurelius was clearly depressive by nature. He was racked by constant pain. He dealt with profound tragedy. No one should bury a child.

He had incredible burdens on his shoulders. And yet, he stuck around. He struggled through. Because he knew that life was worth it.

He knew there was darkness ahead. He'd seen plenty of it already. But he also knew that there would be bright spots as well. Bright spots that broke up and delunted the darkness.

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