This Is Almost a Miracle | The Epictetus Lesson Kyle Carpenter Lives By

Summary

The Daily Stoic Podcast

Episode: This Is Almost a Miracle | The Epictetus Lesson Kyle Carpenter Lives By
Host: Ryan Holiday
Guest: Kyle Carpenter (Marine Veteran, Medal of Honor recipient, Motivational Speaker)
Date: August 6, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Ryan Holiday explores the improbable survival and lasting influence of two foundational Stoic texts—Epictetus’ Discourses and Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations—and unpacks a central Epictetus lesson with guest Kyle Carpenter. Drawing from Carpenter’s extraordinary journey of resilience, they discuss the power of perspective in adversity, embracing hardship, and how Stoic concepts translate into living a meaningful, grateful life even through severe struggle.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Miraculous Survival of Stoic Texts (00:00–03:20)

• Ryan Holiday reflects on the nearly miraculous existence of Meditations:

  "It should not have survived. It was not intended for publication. It’s totally and utterly unprecedented…The unguarded private thoughts of the most powerful man in the world." (00:00)

• Foundations of Stoicism:
  • Meditations wouldn’t exist without Epictetus’ teachings—a former slave whose works were not written by himself and were never intended for posterity.
  • The teachings traveled improbably from one of the most powerless people in history (Epictetus) to one of the most powerful (Marcus Aurelius).
• Invitation for Listeners: Ryan introduces an in-depth August program on Epictetus, including study modules and live sessions, emphasizing practical application of Stoic wisdom.

The ‘Two Handles’ Lesson of Epictetus (04:59–06:59)

• Explained by Host:

  “Every situation has two handles…You can grab the handle that says, ‘Hey, I'm alive, this is good,’ or you can grab the handle of, ‘Why am I alive? This is horrible.’ That handle’s kind of everything. The lens through which we interpret the events…the first step.” (05:02)

• On Optimism vs. Realism:
  • Overly rosy perspectives ("I'm going to be home by Christmas," as told by Vietnam POWs) can be dangerous; denial of reality is not Stoicism.
  • The key is a balance: hope with determination and acceptance of reality.

Kyle Carpenter on Embracing Struggle (06:59–10:30)

• Power of Embracing the Struggle:

  "There is tremendous power—and I would say that's even an understatement—in embracing the struggle." —Kyle Carpenter (06:59)

• Facing the Unknown:
  • Embracing the unknown enabled Kyle to join the Marines and later endure his recovery after injury.
  • Life, like service, is an unpredictable journey; preparation and resilience matter, but outcomes are unknowable at the start.

  “You never really know what the day…is going to hold…but I joined the Marine Corps to discover who I could really become… Be careful what you wish for.” (07:25)

Perspective, Purpose, and Silver Linings (09:37–11:53)

• Struggle as Growth:

  "Life is a very difficult journey at times. But it's also equally as beautiful… It's worth living and it's worth being here…” —Kyle Carpenter (09:59)

• No Easy Answers:
  • Embracing adversity isn’t about instant transformation or dismissing pain.
  • Progress is often slow, but perseverance builds gratitude, strength, and perspective.
  • The light at the end of the tunnel is real, but it may take time to reach it.

  “Sometimes it is just inching or crawling forward. But in the right time…you’ll look back and be proud of yourself… you'll be the strongest, more perspective driven, more grateful version of yourself.” (10:30)

• No Finish Line:
  • Transformation is ongoing; every struggle surmounted adds to personal growth.

Physical Practice as Metaphor (11:53–13:14)

• Ryan Holiday’s Reflection:
  • Physical hardship (running, cold plunges, lifting) mirrors life adversity.
  • The benefit is mostly realized afterward—sometimes weeks or months later.

  “You get through the hard thing because of what's on the other side of the hard thing.” —Ryan Holiday (12:26)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Ryan Holiday:

  "How does the thinking of one of the most powerless people in human history come to shape the thinking and the life of one of the most powerful people in history?" (01:40)

• Kyle Carpenter:

  "There is tremendous power—and I would say that's even an understatement—to embracing the struggle." (07:00)
  "But to know that life is difficult, and when you face that adversity, to embrace it." (10:00)
  "You'll realize that the journey was worth it, and you will be the strongest, more perspective driven, more grateful version of yourself." (11:30)

• Ryan Holiday:

  "The lens through which we decide to interpret the events or the position we're in is kind of the first step. Because if you get that one wrong, all the other steps are really hard." (05:24)

• Kyle Carpenter:

  "You never really know what the day or what life in…the big picture is going to hold." (07:24)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:00–03:20 — Introduction: The miracle of Meditations and Discourses; Stoic study challenge for listeners.
• 04:59–06:59 — The core Epictetus lesson: “Two handles.” On choosing perspective in adversity.
• 06:59–10:30 — Kyle Carpenter on embracing struggle, unknown outcomes, and post-adversity growth.
• 11:53–13:14 — Physical hardship as a metaphor for resilience in life.

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Final Takeaways

• Stoicism’s Power:
  • Enduring wisdom can arise from the most improbable sources and change the course of countless lives—even those at the farthest reaches of status and circumstance.
• Adversity’s Lesson:
  • The “handle” we choose in moments of adversity shapes everything that follows; grit and realism foster growth, gratitude, and self-understanding.
• Continuous Practice:
  • Both physical and emotional hardships serve as training for life. The “miracle” isn’t suffering itself, but our capacity to grow and find meaning through it.

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Transcript

[Ryan Holiday]

Welcome to the daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom, into the real world. This is almost a miracle, and too many people refuse to take advantage of should not exist. It should not have survived. It was not intended for publication. It's totally and utterly unprecedented. As we have said many times, Marcus Aurelius Meditations is the unguarded private thoughts,

[Navy Veteran / Author]

the most powerful man in the world.

[Ryan Holiday]

In its pages, we have the philosophical insights and wisdom of someone who lived through a plague, lived through wars, lived through famine, lived through floods, lived through health issues. One thing after another. And somehow this wisdom has proven not just relatable, but essential for people, for people like us, for thousands of years. But there's another wrinkle that makes this whole thing even more remarkable. Meditations would not have been possible without another book that should also not exist, that should not have survived, whose lessons were not intended for publication. Epictetus discourses the teachings of a person who wasn't even given a real name. Epictetus means acquired one. A person born a slave, who spent decades of his life being tortured, a man who was later unjustly exiled, who didn't even write down his own work, not only survived, but his teachings made

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

their way to a young Marcus Aurelius,

[Ryan Holiday]

who, even more improbably read them and put them to use. How does the thinking of one of the most powerless people in human history come to shape the thinking and the life of one of the most powerful people in history? That's a question we should want to know the answer to. Because here, in two of the most incredible books ever written, we are presented with all the wisdom necessary to live the good life, with everything we need to know to deal with the difficulties of life. Epictetus work changed Marcus Riolius life. Both of them have changed my life. Both of them will change your life if you let them. That's why here in August, Daily Stoic is doing a deep dive into Epictetus. We're diving into Discourses, we're diving into the Enchiridion. Not just to read them, but to put Epictetus teachings into practice. We've created this awesome guide, how to Read Epictetus. It's a 14 module companion to his works. We've got videos, we've got context, we've got prompts, we've got exercises designed to help you make those teachings stick. So whether you're new to Stoicism or you've read Meditations a dozen times, maybe you've even read Epictetus already. This will help deeply in that understanding, that philosophy, challenge how you live it. And if you join us this month with our guide, you not only can

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

get the books as part of that,

[Ryan Holiday]

but you can join me.

[Navy Veteran / Author]

We're going to be doing a live

[Ryan Holiday]

session with thousands of Stoics all over the world to dive into the teachings of Epictetus.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

I hope to see you there.

[Ryan Holiday]

As I said, his work changed my life. I think it'll change your life. And I can't wait to see you in there. Just go to dailystoic.com stoic epictetus to find out more and we'll get into it.

[Navy Veteran / Author]

Talk soon.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

Recording this on a Sunday. Just spent a nice lovely day at home, kind of redecorating the house.

[Navy Veteran / Author]

Just, you know, school's gonna start soon.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

We, we wanna get the space, like

[Ryan Holiday]

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[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

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[Marine Veteran / Motivational Speaker]

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[Navy Veteran / Author]

Do you know who Epictetus was? The sto philosopher.

[Marine Veteran / Motivational Speaker]

Absolutely.

[Navy Veteran / Author]

So, you know, Epictetus is tortured by his. He's a slave, so he's. But he has this cruel master who tortures him. He breaks his leg at one point and so he has this. He's crippled the rest of his life, which is the I guess the term they would use then. So, so he's, he's coming at this not from like some tenured academic perch, but like a dude who really suffered and went through stuff. And his thing was that we, every situation has two handles. You know, we get to decide what we're going to try to pick it up by. And you can grab the handle that says, hey, I'm alive, this is good, or you can grab the handle of like, why am I alive? This is horrible. And that handles kind of everything. The lens through which we decide to interpret the events or the position we're in is kind of the first step. Because if you get that one wrong, all the other steps are really hard. I feel like if you're like, I was singled out, this is horrible. This is insurmountable. You know, you can tell yourself a story that becomes a self fulfilling prophecy now just telling yourself it's wonderful and I'm never going to suffer again and it's all going to great. That's the thing that those Vietnam prisoners talked about. Like if the story you're telling yourself is I'm going to be home by Christmas, this is going to be over really soon. That's also a bad handle because life doesn't really care that that's what you think. But if you, if you. So it's, it's the key is sort of picking something that's both hopeful but also got a kind of a grit and a determination to it. That's like, as you said, like, I just know I'm not quitting because as long as these people are helping me, I'm not going to give up. That's, that's not like, oh, you know, if you get in a car accident and the doctors say you're never going to walk again just because you go, I'm going to walk again. Sometimes that works, but not always. That's not magically going to give you your legs back.

[Marine Veteran / Motivational Speaker]

Yeah, there needs to be accepting of reality in there as well. But I think there is tremendous power and I would say that's even an understatement to embracing the struggle.

[Navy Veteran / Author]

Yeah.

[Marine Veteran / Motivational Speaker]

You know, in the beginning to embrace the unknown allowed me to step onto those yellow footprints at boot camp.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

Sure.

[Marine Veteran / Motivational Speaker]

To try to become a Marine and really a life of service is, especially in the military, it's kind of like an entire journey, whether that's four years or a whole career of unknown. And then through my recovery and just life in general is, is an unknown journey. You can, you know, prepare yourself. You can Try to. To learn and. And to become resilient throughout the difficult journey. But you never really know what the day or what life in. In the big picture is going to hold. But, you know, I joined the Marine Corps to discover who I could really become and who I really was. And they say, be careful what you wish for sometimes.

[Navy Veteran / Author]

Yeah, you probably thought that was. You were going to find out who that was, you know, in battle, not in a hospital room, but one led to the other. And that's. You don't really know. That's what I've been thinking about on this book that I'm writing now. So I'm writing a book about Stockdale, and, you know, Stockdale goes to the academy. He thinks he's enlisting in World War II. He misses World War II. Then he thinks he's going to fight in Korea. Like, all his buddies do. Like, Hudner wins the Medal of Honor in Korea. Like, I have his orders where he's, like, begging to be sent to Korea. And they're like, it would be detrimental to your unit if we sent you to Korea. And so he does. So he keeps thinking that he's missing his moment, right? Then he goes to test pilot school, and he thinks, you know, this is my thing. And then, you know, Jaeger breaks the sound barrier. He's not one of those guys. Then he misses, like, astronaut school, and he thinks he's, you know, like. Yeah, he's like, what? You know, he keeps any. But he doesn't know, because you can't know that it's actually preparing him for this day in 1965 when he gets shot down. And then you can't even conceive then of what, you know, the next seven years are going to mean. But, like, you don't know what life is preparing you for. All you can really do is be ready for something that you can't even conceive of.

[Marine Veteran / Motivational Speaker]

Yeah, absolutely. You know, whether it's through that journey or that moment that you're shot down, you become a pow. You know, I encourage people when I speak or when I have engagements on the road to, you know, embrace that struggle.

[Navy Veteran / Author]

Yeah.

[Marine Veteran / Motivational Speaker]

One, I think, to be realistic, that, you know, life is a very difficult journey at times.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

Sure.

[Marine Veteran / Motivational Speaker]

But it's also equally as beautiful. And most importantly, it's worth living and it's worth being here, because those moments are impossible to describe. How immediately, I won't even say dark, just a void things become. But to know that life is difficult, and when you face that adversity, to embrace it.

[Navy Veteran / Author]

Yeah.

[Marine Veteran / Motivational Speaker]

And you really. I mean, in a way, I feel like you don't have another choice. I mean, if you want to sit exactly where you are right now or right in that moment of adversity for the rest of your life, that's really the only other option but to embrace the struggle and understand that there's always a silver lining. There's always that light at the end of the tunnel. And when you reach that which, you know, everyone heals in their own time, in their own way. So I'm not telling you, I'm not one of those that say, oh, just brush it off, get back up and keep going. I mean, sometimes it takes an entire life to try to continue to get better. Sometimes it is just inching or crawling forward. But in the right time to know that when you move forward, you hold on those silver linings, you reach that light at the end of the tunnel, you will not only look back and be proud of yourself, you will. You'll realize that the journey was worth it, and you will be the strongest, more perspective driven, more grateful version of yourself. And ultimately, in that moment, you know, it's never. There's never a finish line, but in that moment when you're on the other side, you'll realize that you're the best version of yourself.

[Navy Veteran / Author]

And don't you think this is like. I think having a physical practice is a metaphor for that. Right. Like, every time I run, every time I jump in cold water, every time I lift weights or whatever, I don't want to do it, but I'm glad after that I did it. Right. It's the feeling afterward that the shitty part is for. And that, you know, sometimes. And it's not just like, oh, hey, the endorphins. You know, you do the thing and then you get a little rush of endorphins at the end. Sometimes you don't. You don't feel anything at the end

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

but tired or pain or whatever.

[Navy Veteran / Author]

Yeah. But like six months ago, six months later, when you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and you're like, I am in the shape that I want to be, or you have to pick up something heavy, and you can pick it up because you did the work. That's. That's what it is. And yeah, I think that's the metaphor for life is like in the shitty moments, and it's not just in your own life. It's like every relationship has these dips. And the good parts in the relationship are never those dips. They're at some point after those dips if you don't quit. And just knowing like, yeah, it's. You get through the hard thing because of what's on the other side of the hard thing.

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