Welcome to the Daily Dad podcast, where we provide one lesson every single day to help you with your most important job, being a parent.

I'm Ryan Holiday, and I draw these lessons from ancient philosophy, modern psychology, practical wisdom, and insights from parents just like you all over the world.

Thank you for listening, and we hope this helps.

Your calendar doesn't lie. Unlike most Roman emperors, Marks Ruelas actually loved his wife.

They were married for 30 years, and though there were rumors of infidelity, Marks Ruelas

never seems to have doubted Faustina, who he'd been with since he was 17. Together, they had 13

children, and when she died, he was profoundly devastated, and he had her deified, building a statue

of her outside the temple of Venus

and constructed another temple in her honor. Marcus even wrote a testament to his love for his wife

and their life together in a letter to his tutor Fronto. I call the gods to witness, he wrote,

that I would, I were now living in exile with Faustina rather than without her on the Palantine. Sure, the palaces were

nice and so was power. He had an important job, but none of it was better than spending time

with his lovely partner. It's a wonderful sentiment, but is it true? Marcus really spent years

away from Rome, fighting wars, visiting the provinces. He spent time in Greece as all students of philosophy

considered a must. He had cases to adjudicate dignitaries to receive things to write. No doubt,

he spent a lot of time reading, a lot of time training, a lot of time committed to serving the people

of Rome. In short, he was like a lot of us who claim to put our families first. We say that no one's

more important to us,

but then we promptly put so many other things before them. And sometimes that stuff is life or

death or matters of making a living. Sometimes it's not nearly so essential, although we tell

ourselves it is. The irony is that Mark Surrealis never aspired to be the emperor. He didn't particularly

like the job either, yet it took over his life. It consumed his calendar all the same. It's a

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