#2 [2022/CBR14] The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

This was a long time ago now, but I think I'd just read Grit, and I was interested in finding some more books that explored mental toughness. I saw The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living (2016) by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman and decided that I needed a hardcover copy. I began in January, and for the next year, I read The Daily Stoic's little blurb of the day. 

The book begins by explaining that Stoicism was a school of philosophy founded in Athens in the early third century BC., and it focuses on self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom. In this book, the authors have made an entry for every day of the year. It begins with a quote from Marcus Aurelius (Roman emperor), Epictetus (former slave who became an influential lecturer and friend of another emperor), or Seneca (famous playwright and political adviser). Then the authors write a couple paragraphs explaining the quote and how it relates to us today.

On the whole, this book had some interesting quotes and gave me some things to think about. I was excited when January 1st started out the year with the idea of the Serenity Prayer. "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." And then January 3rd discussed how you should avoid wasting time on emotions such as: anger, excitement, distraction, obsession, and lust. 

Later on September 9, the authors interpreted a line from Seneca, saying: "The things we fear pale in comparison to the damage we do to ourselves and others when we unthinkingly scramble to avoid them." And later on November 16th, the authors state that, "both hope and fear contain a dangerous amount of want and worry in them. And, sadly, the want is what causes the worry."

On the other hand, I sometimes felt the Stoicism quotes weren't explained very well or even related to what the authors wrote below the quote. In addition, they used some strong gender stereotypes in a couple of their explanations, which I found grating. I also occasionally yearned for deeper explanations and more continuity of the philosophy than the piecemeal quotes. Finally, the authors kept saying that the only thing you have control over, that you know you can't lose, is your reasoned mind. This rubbed me the wrong way, having family members with mental illness and dementia. No one is guaranteed a reasoned mind.

Although I found some wise advise in these pages, after reading this book for a year, I was happy to be done. I've moved on to 365 poems for 2022.