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Welcome to the Daily Stoic podcast. On Friday, we do double-duty not just reading our

daily meditation, but also reading a passage from the Daily Stoic. My book, 366 Meditations

on Wisdom, Perseverance in the Heart of Living, which I wrote with my wonderful collaborator,

and a literary agent, Stephen Hanselman. So today, we'll give you a quick meditation from the

Stoics with some analysis from me and then we'll send you out into the world to turn these words

into works.

Just keep going. The Stoics accepted that life could be cruel and random. They knew people were

stupid and annoying. They did not deny that death was ever present. And you might think that the

result of these beliefs was a dark and dour worldview. Certainly, many critics of the Stoics have

registered that or potential fans of the Stoics have turned away after a few passages of Marcus

Realis' Meditations or Epicetus' writings. Regardless of how realistic they might have been in their

assessment of the world, the Stoics were on the whole not despondent. They worked hard at their jobs.

They created beautiful art. They went to the theater. They got married. They tried to make a

positive difference in the lives of the people around them. You want to call Marcus Realis

resigned and pessimistic? The guy buried six of his children and he continued to get out of bed

each morning. This is a statement of profound hopefulness and meaning as well as fortitude and

character. Whatever it is, whatever you're going through, whatever it's forced you to understand

about this thing called life. Well, it is not at odds with the ability, with the need to just

keep going, to put one foot in front of the other, to do your best, to make a tiny contribution.

The Stoics managed. So, can you?

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