This Week’s BIG Idea
I just realized that despite journaling for months, most of my problems have solutions and they come from philosophy. I’ve always liked philosophy, but I never took the time to read more about it. Now that I’m reading Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic for the first time, I realize that most of my problems, worries, and questions have already been worked out thousands of years ago. I’ve read about every area imaginable, including success, happiness, freedom, possessions, money, and more. On the surface, sometimes it feels like you’re reading about problems of the past, things that shouldn’t matter anymore. But the truth is that we’re still dealing with the same issues that the stoics dealt with thousands of years ago. The Daily Stoic is a great intro to philosophy and a book that I’d recommend to anyone interested in stoicism.
What I’m Working on
Lately, I’ve been thinking about a way to incorporate philosophy into my life. Although I’ve read The Obstacle Is the Way, that’s one of the only book summaries on philosophy I have on the website. I’d like to read more lessons from philosophy on a daily (or at least regular) basis. The best resources I found so far are those from Daily Stoic which comes in the form of a website, email newsletter, YouTube Channel, and podcast.
As the name of the site suggests, Daily Stoic is all about applying the ideas of stoicism on a daily basis which is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Soon after using these resources, you’ll notice that some of the lessons and teachings start repeating. To me, this is an advantage because one of my problems with disciplines like stoicism is that they can overwhelm you at first. There’s so much to learn that unless you often revisit some of its lessons, you’ll start forgetting them. As an intro to philosophy, the Daily Stoic is one of the best resources out there.
What I’m Listening to
I’ve reorganized my podcasts once again. I find it incredibly difficult to find the time to listen to podcasts regularly and while I feel like I can learn a lot from podcasts, they’ve also been a constant source of anxiety. So I decided to limit the number of podcasts I listen to regularly. I’m letting myself listen to one fun podcast, and one podcast for learning (this is a similar approach to how I read books). Instead of being subscribed to a bunch of podcasts, I also want to download single episodes when I like the topic that’s being discussed or when I like the guest.
What I’m Reading
- The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman: The Daily Stoic is a book that shares one quote from the stoics for each day of the year, as well as some short commentaries related to that quote. The quotes are from some of history’s most famous stoics, including Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, and Zeno. Overall, there are 366 insights from the ancient philosophy of stoicism, one for each day of the year. Although the idea is to read this book over the course of a year, I’m reading one chapter per day which I wouldn’t recommend. This is the kind of book you want to read really slowly so that you can reflect on the insights and exercises presented. Despite being old, the teaching from the stoics can help you deal with modern problems, such as anxiety, worry, stress, and coping with strong emotions.
- Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk: I didn’t know that much about Fight Club other than the movie starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. I watched the film while I was in college and it left quite an impression on me, but while I often thought about it, I haven’t watched it since. I recently learned that Fight Club is actually a book and I heard enough quotes about it that I decided to read the novel. Right from the get-go, you can tell that this is a special book. It goes fast and you go fast with it too. This is the kind of book that you can finish in one sitting without realizing it. It’s hard to talk about Fight Club without repeating something that’s been said dozens of times before, so I won’t. If you haven’t read it though, you should.
What I’m Watching
Since I just started reading The Daily Stoic, I went to Ryan Holiday’s YouTube channel where he discusses some of the teachings and lessons from stoicism. I like how some of those lessons repeat in different videos because in stoicism (like any other discipline or area in life), you learn by being exposed to it several times. This allows you to so internalize ideas and then use them in a more practical manner. I see myself returning to the channel often and would also like to re-read The Daily Stoic in 2023 as it’s meant to be read. That means reading one chapter a day over the course of 366 days.
This Week’s Quote
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
Seneca
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