What You Need is a Small Crisis | Show, Not Tell, What You Know
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. Hey, it's Ryan. Hope you are well. I am just working on my talk. I'm gonna be giving a talk in San Francisco and Portland in mid-June. I'd love to see you there. You can grab tickets at dailystoiclive.com. If you're not on the West Coast, you wanna see me in the Midwest or on the East Coast. Tickets are up Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, Boston, DC. I'm forgetting another one. And then I'm gonna be in Australia in October as well. All those tickets at dailystoiclive.com. What you need is a small crisis. It was one thing after another for Marcus Aurelius. Floods and famines, wars and coups, disorder and destruction, matters of life and death.
These crises are instructive naturally and more specifically opportunities for virtue. But they are also, in their overwhelming and tragic nature, often much more than we need for those purposes. No one would choose something like that. No one would choose to go through what Zelensky has gone through or Churchill or to trade places with Queen Elizabeth during her annus horribilis. What is valuable, however, are those small crises, those wake-up calls, those close calls. It's these situations that are significant but hardly mortal that can make us focus, that can drive creativity and connection and clarity. They are serious, so we have to get serious. They are challenging and challenge us to rise up and meet them.
They can make us better if we insist on it. In the moment, they may seem like they are great, greater than we can imagine. And yes, we might lose some things in the process. Yes, there might be some consequences. But in the grand scheme of things, we are alive. And that was never really in doubt. And if we are alive, then we can learn. It's in fact often when we don't pay attention to and learn from these small crises that the world sends the big ones our way, the ones that come crashing down on us to finally get these lessons through our thick skull. When we stop resisting and start learning, the obstacle becomes the way. And obviously, that's the idea behind The Obstacle is the Way, which I wrote about over 10 years ago now, having not been through too much.
I was in my early 20s when I sat down and wrote that book, and I've been through some bigger stuff since then. But the idea is about how we respond to those day-to-day obstacles and how we see them. as an opportunity for growth. We have a 10-year anniversary edition. A new edition of The Obstacle is the way available. I'll link to that in today's show notes. If you want me to sign it, if you want to give it as a gift to someone, you can grab all that at store.dailystoic.com.
So generally, I get to wear whatever I want, which is usually, if you see me, it's running shorts and a heavy metal T-shirt. But, you know, sometimes we have a fancy guest on I want to dress up or I'm giving a talk and I've got to dress up or I'm going to be on TV and I've got to dress up. And lately, I've been wearing a lot of quints. I've loved their sweaters. What I try to do is find staples, like things that I really like, and I'll get multiple colors or, you know, I'll just go through that brand or that company's catalog and get a bunch of stuff I like. And I'm so glad that Quince has been a sponsor because they saved me a bunch of money, although I'll end up paying for it because now I'm hooked and I'm going to end up buying a lot of the stuff.
Quince has all the wardrobe staples for spring. They've got linen shorts and shirts.
What is the significance of small crises in personal growth?
They've got, as I said, sweaters, which I'm wearing all the time. Everything that Quince has is priced 50 to 80 percent less than what you'd find from similar brands. quince works directly with ethical factories cuts out the middleman so you're getting premium materials without the markup refresh your every day with luxury you'll actually use head over to quince.com for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in canada too that's q-u-i-n-c-e.com for free shipping and 365 day returns
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00β3:53
2
What is the significance of small crises in personal growth?
3:53β4:27
3
How did Marcus Aurelius handle crises in his life?
4:27β6:38
4
What lessons can we learn from small crises?
6:38β10:04
5
How does learning from small crises prevent larger ones?
10:04β11:02
6
What is the essence of 'The Obstacle is the Way' philosophy?
11:02β12:13
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Daily Stoic
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