The Daily Stoic Journal: 366 Days of Writing and Reflection on the Art of Living

I came across The Daily Stoic in Barnes and Noble one Saturday near the end of December 2017. I looked through it and liked what I saw but realized that I could not afford the hefty price tag, so I looked it up on Amazon and saw a better price, especially on my retirement budget. As I read the beginning, I realized the power of the thought provoking questions. Journals are usually blank and ready for the writer's thoughts and words. But The Daily Stoic provides the questions which forces the writer in a direction probably far different from what the writer may have intended. The questions are made for reflection and then further reflection again in the evening.

I am thoroughly enjoying the reflective questions that The Daily Stoic provides. Sometimes, I can answer the questions right away and other times I may write "I'll get back to this one" so that I can reflect on it as I don't always have an immediate answer. I have written all of this to encourage others to give this book a try. It is 365 days of thoughts and reflections that are not always comfortable to face, but I think it is worth it.

I have written in a journal most of my life. In grade school, I called it my diary, listing my favorite things and the names of my friends and vacation spots. In high school, I wrote about my feelings (mostly who I was mad at or in love with). In college, my literature prof instructed us to keep a journal on our readings, a great way to interact with the text. After college, I wrote to try to make sense of my life: what I do, and more importantly, why I do what I do! My journal has become, in many ways, my best friend, my confidante, my therapist, my muse … my Voice.

I’ve recently discovered journal prompts in online journal/blog communities, exploring a more structured and deliberate way of writing about my experiences. I've worked with these on and off for a little while now, but for some reason, nothing has really taken hold. The prompts are like "Describe the time when you first fell in love" or "What is the most valuable object you've inherited?" I mean, get it, they are meant to prompt you to just start writing with the idea that at some point, you will write about what's really important to you. But those prompts seem superficial and are often uninspiring. Because what is important to me is figuring out why I do/think/feel the way I do, how predictable those actions/thoughts/feelings are, how those actions/thoughts/feelings have changed over time, and how I should act and decide things right now and going forward.

I have been reading The Daily Stoic this past year. When I got the promotional material for The Daily Stoic Journal, and checked out the sample pages, I ordered it immediately. The few questions that I read in the sample resonated, and on November 19, upon receiving my book in the mail, responded to the question: "Will I accept the situation and still fight to do and be good?" I created a Word document on my laptop and named it "A Stoic Journal 2017-2018." I typed out the question and starting typing a response. In 20 minutes I had written just under 1000 words, describing a challenging period of my life when I felt I was being intimidated and accused of wrongdoing. I had written (complained) about this unwanted situation previously, but this prompt helped me to write about it in a focused way that made a lesson out of it for me, encouraging me to look for how I fought to do and be good in spite of being wrongfully accused. It helped me to accept what I had been through and that it actually was an opportunity to learn something new about myself and make me stronger. I have responded to the journal prompts in The Daily Stoic Journal almost every day since and it's my goal to continue throughout the year.

If you are interested in learning more about yourself and the lessons that you can teach yourself through your own life experiences, I highly recommend this practice!

My knowledge regarding Stoicism is minimal, but I have slowly grown extremely interested with the subject. This book/journal is the perfect way of taking away weekly lessons of the stoics while also implementing the practice of journaling both in the morning and the evening (just like the stoics all those years ago). The quality is wonderful, but I was not expecting anything less as Ryan Holiday has consistently claimed the throne of a modern-day stoic!

I purchased this book 6 years ago. I'm not good at regular daily journaling but this book is great for when I go through phases of wanting to express and explore. It gets my mind thinking on how to live a better life. And I don't have to spend hours - or too many minutes even - doing it! I can pick it up and just jot down a few thoughts on the topic of the day.