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Hey, I'm Cassie Depeckle, the host of Wunderies Against the Odds. In our next season, Amelia

Earhart wants to make history by flying across the Atlantic alone, but brutal weather and

malfunctioning equipment could leave her lost at sea. Listen to Against the Odds on Amazon

music or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to the Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help

you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living 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 dailystoic.com.

Are you ready to ration? It might have seemed crazy to read that all those years ago,

Seneca practiced a day of poverty each month. He fasted or he ate sparingly. He wore

rags and slept on the ground. He got up close and personal with what it meant to have less,

to remind himself of what life was like if many of his creature comforts disappeared. He called

this philosophy. It can sound a little extreme out of practice, but this is how he practiced.

Suddenly, though, it doesn't seem so crazy or extreme. Does it not with large parts of the

United States re-entering lockdowns, not with the dramatic increase in cases worldwide from

Phoenix and Houston to Rio and Mumbai? Not with hospitals packed with COVID-19 patients that

have to turn away new patients for lack of room. Seneca knew what he was doing. He had experienced

exile. He had been driven from the very top of public life twice. He saw a room ravaged by

fire. He saw colonies destroyed by rebellions. He saw how easily our old baseline can start to look

like a high watermark when fortune arrives with its sometimes characteristic random cruelty.

...