The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living

Holiday encourages readers to embrace challenges, as obstacles can help them to understand their capabilities, while an easy life may foster the wrong qualities. For instance, Musonius Rufus warned against a luxurious lifestyle, which he believed encourages injustice, greediness, and cowardice. Holiday echoes this advice, as he believes that people should try to resist living in luxury so they do not have to fear losing what they have and can achieve stability.

The same principle should be applied to our inner lives; Holiday warns against overconfidence, since it is inevitable that life will burst this “bubble” (274) and send people crashing down. The unexpected nature of some tragedies makes their pain worse, so Stoics should always remember that misfortune can happen to them. One way to avoid this kind of shock is to lessen “dependencies before they become too great” (287). Epictetus felt that people suffer because they become attached to people or things that they cannot have forever; knowing that the only permanent in life is “prohairesis, our capacity for reasoned choice” (348) leads to a more balanced and less reactive life.

Even in the absence of challenges, some people will still worry. Holiday blames this on mental habits, explaining that the consequence of good fortune is worrying about losing it all. People’s “actual needs are small” (291), which is why people benefit more by focusing on their character—shifting their thinking from wanting to acquire things to doing good and living their values.

Focusing on one’s own mind and choices is possible even in cases of extreme abuse. Holiday points to Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl, a psychologist who wrote the iconic memoir Man's Search for Meaning (1946), as an example of someone who focused on their own agency to endure the trauma of living in a concentration camp. Frankl resisted the Nazis’ atrocities by exploring his psychological theories and trying to help others. Holiday reminds readers that they, too, have the “hidden power” to identify their own “ability to use reason and make choices” (269), even though they have little control over external events. In a passage entitled “You Choose the Outcome,” Holiday explains that people always have a choice about how to interpret negative events. He points to Malcolm X, who emerged from prison “educated, religious, and motivated” (339) to contribute to the civil rights movement, as an example of a person turning misfortune into something positive.

One way people can respond constructively to negative behavior is by helping others’ understand their mistakes. Marcus Aurelius writes that if people cannot constructively confront others, then they have no right to complain about bad behavior. At the same time, these confrontations should be the result of reason and rationality: Stoics aim to decrease snap judgments and first impressions. Holiday warns against seeing the world in absolutes and encourages readers to give other people the benefit of the doubt.

Marcus Aurelius believed that people should pray not for what they want, but for the self-control to stop wanting it. Holiday endorses this view and claims that asking for “fortitude and strength” rather than “divine intervention” (276) helps build character. He encourages readers to admire people who struggled for success and had to learn skills and self-mastery on their journey. Mastering the self is different than controlling externalities, however—Holiday confirms that being in control is the “most potent addiction of all” (330), and thus the hardest to give up. This desire to control others is expressed in a variety of ways: People often want others to like them and take offense when they do not, or they seek revenge for the wrongs done to them. Both are against Stoic philosophy; Marcus Aurelius argued that living a moral life is “the best way to avenge yourself” (306).

Marcus Aurelius warned against developing “false friendship” (311) and encouraged people to be genuine in the relationships they pursue. Holiday advises readers to evaluate their friends and employees based on character rather than superficial attributes, since after all “Character is fate” (322). While readers might feel inspired to share their newfound interest in character building with friends and loved ones, Holiday clarifies that Stoicism is not a proselytizing philosophy—readers should share their knowledge only if they feel that someone may benefit from it. He reiterates that the best way to do this is to set a strong example.

Stoic thought helps reframe life’s big questions towards the individual, and challenges people to make meaning from their lives by “embodying the self-evident principles of justice, self-control, courage, freedom, and abstaining from evil” (313).

Holiday now explores a new facet of Stoicism: Stoics disagree with the Christian concept of being born into sin. Stoics believe that humans are inherently altruistic and are more inclined towards cooperation than violence. Rather than seeking salvation or a remedy for their true nature, readers can use philosophy as a “tool to strip it all away—to get back to our true nature” (324). The Stoic approach to altruism is founded on the concept of “sympatheia,” or the interconnectedness and interdependence of all living things.

Epictetus reaffirms Stoics’ acceptance of events which are beyond their circle of control. He compares life to a play, suggesting that each individual accept the role that a higher power has assigned to them, and try to play that part as well as they can. Holiday connects this advice to the fact that Marcus Aurelius did not pursue becoming Emperor but had the position thrust upon him by other powerful people. Aurelius accepted this fate and tried to perform well in his position. Conversely, President FDR had to accept his “fate” of living with polio. He employed disciplined choices to overcome its challenges and still serve as president.

Marcus Aurelius reminded himself to live as if he was a “dying person” (358) in order to make wise choices. Holiday uses this quote to remind readers that “Every person is born with a death sentence” (358); however, rather than living in fear of death, people can use the knowledge of its certainty to motivate them. One thing that becomes clear when we embrace the inevitability of death is that time is the most valuable thing in life. While the world’s problems can seem unprecedented or insurmountable, Holiday contends that many of the issues we face have been endured by previous generations and will likely occur again.