Transcript
Ryan Holiday (0:00)
The world is full of tours, but.
Ryan Holiday (voiceover for Toyota Trucks ad) (0:05)
You don't choose a Toyota truck to follow the beaten path. You choose it to find the places.
Michelle Mace Curran (0:11)
In between.
Ryan Holiday (voiceover for Toyota Trucks ad) (0:13)
The detours, where each adventure pulls you toward the next, and wrong turns turn out right. So why would you ever take a tour when you could take a detour? Toyota Trucks.
Ryan Holiday (0:30)
My family owns a 2023 Toyota 4Runner, and honestly, it's my favorite vehicle that I've ever owned around town. It's smooth and reliable, but where it really shines is on our trips into the backcountry. We've taken it on backpacking adventures to Colorado and New Mexico, loaded up with gear and never had to think twice about whether it could handle the terrain. That's what Toyota trucks are built for. Off road confidence, rugged durability and the freedom to explore. Toyota has a long history with the outdoor community and they're committed to helping more people get out there and experience what nature has to offer. From remote trails to scenic byways, Toyota Trucks empowers you to take the detour, roam freely and discover places that still feel wild and untouched. And they're not just making great trucks. They're working to expand access to adventure so more people can connect with the outdoors and pass that passion on to the next generation. Discover your uncharted territory. Learn more@toyota.com trucks adventure detours that's toyota.com trucks adventure detours I'm picking my kids up from school today and then doing our weekly routine, which is I take them over to Whole Foods and we get all our groceries for the week. Then we have dinner. It's one of their favorite things to do. It's one of my favorite things to do. And then my wife loves it because she doesn't have to take care of it. This holiday season, whether you're a guest or hosting the big dinner, Whole Foods Market has what you need to delight everyone at your table. They even have heat and eat sides from the prepared foods department. You can make Whole Foods your one stop shop. Everything follows Whole Foods Market's strict ingredient standards. Know it will be delicious and good for you. You can also order online for pickup and even delivery in select zip codes to skip the crowds. Shop everything you need at Whole Foods Market, your holiday headquarters. Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast where each weekday we bring you a meditation inspired by the Ancient Stoics, a short passage of of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength and insight here in everyday life. And on Wednesdays we talk to some of our fellow students of ancient philosophy, well known and obscure, fascinating and powerful. With them, we discuss the strategies and habits that have helped them become who they are, and also to find peace and wisdom in their lives. Foreign. Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic podcast. So I was walking my dog last night, walking down the dirt road we live on, and it's not exactly night. It's like dusk. It's starting to get dark. I have, like, a little flashing light I put on her collar. I have a flashlight, like a running flashlight that I have. It's actually this cool to kind of like. It's like kind of like an L shape. You sort of hold it. It's almost like a. You grip it. Anyways, this has nothing to do with what I'm saying. I'm walking the dog, and I'm listening to music, and this car kind of comes up behind me. It's a pretty small, contained little rural area we're in. So it's someone down towards the end of the road, and they're coming up behind me, and I can hear them, and I get over to the side, and then they come, like, insanely close to me in their car, and I have the dog on the left side, and they're coming up behind me, so they're on my right side. And I'm like, whoa, what is this? I kind of like, throw my hands up, you know, like in a. In a shrug, like, what the hell, man? And the car continues on, you know, maybe five yards. And then, like, I see the brake lights come on and I go, oh, no. I'm saying, oh, no, not. Cause, like, I'm afraid. Exactly. Cause I'm not. But it's more just like, they shouldn't have done this. I don't like that they did it. I'm fine, you know, but did I need to express my frustration with the situation and now have to have a confrontation with the person? I remember I was younger in New Orleans, and something similar had happened. Like, a car whipped out, and I was, you know, threw up my arm like this. The person got out. And I don't remember the details exactly, but I was, like, physically menaced as a result. And then I was like, okay, like, you're obviously in the right. The pedestrian is right here. But it's not something you need to die over. And so I generally try to. As exasperated and frustrated as I can get, with people who are not endangering me or doing dumb things in their car, I generally try to be chill about it because, you know, it's not worth it. That's what I'm saying. So the car not only slows down, but then like I see like they come to a stop and then that like they reverse a little bit. And so I'm like, ah, great. And then I remember, oh, I'm actually I'm. Because there's wild dogs in our neighborhood and sometimes hogs and stuff. I don't open carry. I guess I could again, not a, not a big gun person if I don't have to be, but I do carry like a collapsible police baton. I've had to raise it over my head, let's just say. So I realized, oh, I've got this thing on me. So. So I'm like feeling a little more not sure myself, but I'm feeling a little like, all right, they don't know what's going on. And so as I sort of walk up to the car and half dreading, half just sort of going, I hope this goes good because it doesn't need to be bad, but I'm not as vulnerable as I initially thought, right? I approached the car, they roll down the window and it's. There's this sort of a bunch of people live way down on the road and I know they don't speak English. And guy rolls down the window, I don't think I've seen him before. And he goes, sorry, amigo. And then I go, oh, don't worry about it. And he rolls up the window. I was relieved, right? I was relieved in a couple of ways. It went from a negative situation. Then I was like, is this going to be the worst of people to a thing where I'm like, this is the best of people, right? Like I was mad at myself for a little bit of lack of restraint that incited potentially a conflict. And then I was like impressed and pleased with this person who was in the wrong, by the way. Like they almost clipped me with their car to de escalate like he de escalated first, even though he had no idea whether I was going to be upset or not. Right. What does this have to do with today's episode? Well, we're going to be talking about virtue in today's episode and we tend to think of virtue as this big high minded thing. But I actually think these cardinal virtues, courage, discipline, justice, wisdom, they apply to situations like this, right? A lack of restraint, lack of discipline on my part, that was like part of the inciting incident here. The willingness to make amends or admit error, right? That's what my neighbor illustrated there. But also the courage to not run away from a situation. Like, just the, hey, I know how to handle myself in this situation. I'm not going to needlessly back down from a situation I'm gonna. I'm gonna go in. And I'm confident in my ability to handle this. Like, I wasn't confident in my ability to have to do something. I was just confident in my ability that I didn't need to be afraid here because I knew I could handle myself. Right. And then wisdom. When you're younger, you tend to fly off the handle. You tend to. You just don't know how bad things can get. And you don't always take things seriously that you should take seriously. Is this really the perfect illustration of courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom? No. But it is just a little minor example that I was thinking about that tees up what we're going to talk about in today's little compilation episode. Obviously, these are themes I talk to our various guests on the podcast about. And so I'm going to run you four sections on four of the different virtues. And I think there's going to be a lot to learn here at the beginning, we're talking with someone who I'm incredibly impressed with. This is former Air Force fighter pilot Michelle Mace Curran. She wrote a wonderful new book, the flip side, how to invert your perspective and turn fear into your superpower. She has nearly 2000 hours of flight in an F16. She flew combat missions in Afghanistan. She was also a lead solo pilot for the theater Thunderbirds. When it comes to courage, when it comes to sort of conquering fear, she knows what she's talking about. You know Aristotle's concept of the golden mean?