Jaimie Alexander: “I Was Asked If I Wanted to Live or Die”
The Daily Stoic
Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures
4.5 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 January 2026
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
You’ve seen Jaimie Alexander as the tough, unstoppable character on screen, but what was happening off camera tells a completely different story. In this episode, Ryan sits down with actress Jaimie for one of the most honest conversations she’s ever shared publicly. She opens up about a near-death experience, years of hidden alcoholism, and the moment she realized the life she was pushing through wasn’t sustainable anymore. Jaimie also talks about how Stoic philosophy became a grounding force in her recovery, how curiosity helped replace fear, and more.
Jaimie Alexander is known for her role as Lady Sif in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), as well as the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Kyle XY, and Blindspot.
Follow Jaimie on Instagram @JaimieAlexander and subscribe to her Substack called "In The Hallway"
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key stoic virtues, |
| 0:07.8 | courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. |
| 0:14.4 | Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. By the time you are listening to this, I think it's coming |
| 0:22.1 | out on Saturday, we may all be frozen solid here in Texas. People are freaking out. It's not |
| 0:28.6 | supposed to be that cold, but Texas, it doesn't get that cold here that often, so they really |
| 0:33.7 | freak out. They close all the roads. The power grid is taxed. That is a real problem. |
| 0:38.2 | Texas has its own power grid for some weird political reason. And so it can't, I think, |
| 0:46.0 | as easily take power from other parts of the country that aren't undergoing weather things. |
| 0:51.5 | That's why we had in 2021 this crazy freeze. It's like nine degrees out. I remember we lost power in the middle of, I had to go sleep in my kid's room in their bed, so they literally could stay alive. I don't think it's supposed to be that serious, but there is a lot going on. We're doing a dinner at the painted porch for people who bought a bunch of copies of wisdom. |
| 1:11.9 | It's the Vlospher's dinner that we do for the launches of all of them. |
| 1:14.5 | We've been looking forward to it for a long time. |
| 1:16.9 | It's hard to justify canceling a thing because here it's 30 degrees when that's a normal temperature for this time of year all over the country. |
| 1:25.5 | So I'm not sure exactly what's going to happen, |
| 1:27.8 | but people have been freaking out about it. Should we move it? Should we cancel it? What should we do? |
| 1:33.1 | I said, and I texted her she posted on Instagram. I said, I'm not going to worry about it, |
| 1:40.5 | but somebody probably should, which to me is, that's what delegation is about. I'm not |
| 1:46.6 | saying it's not worth thinking about. It is worth thinking about. It's just not worth me thinking about |
| 1:52.0 | because, one, I don't know anything about it. I'm not a logistics and planning person, but also I have |
| 1:57.8 | other things I'm supposed to be thinking about that if I don't think about, don't get thought about. What does that have to do with today's episode? Nothing, just what's going on |
| 2:05.8 | here? Over the years, I've heard from tons of people. Actually, I just heard from someone yesterday |
| 2:10.8 | that got introduced to Stoicism in recovery, the Daily Stoic, and ideas from the Stokes have been |
| 2:17.0 | passed around the 12-step community for many, many years. |
... |
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