Trudging Through Your Own Life? Here's the Stoic Fix | Maria Semple

This is the 10% Happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hey, gang. Today, we're talking about the enormous power and relief and release that comes from shifting your perspective. One way of putting this is the old saw about the problem isn't the problem. The problem is how you're relating to the problem. So today, we're gonna talk about that. We're also gonna talk about a whole bunch of other stoic principles, including focusing on what you can control and letting the rest fall by the wayside, which my guest calls, quote, a major turn on. And we'll talk about the concept of, quote, digging it, baby, no matter what's happening. My guest is my friend, Maria Semple, who's a well known novelist. She is perhaps best known for her novel, which then turned into a movie, called Where'd You Go, Bernadette? And now she's got a new novel that's getting a ton of buzz called Go Gentle. I had the opportunity to read it early, and it's incredibly good. And it is filled with stoic principles because the protagonist is an expert on stoicism, which I should have said this earlier, but it's the ancient Greco Roman philosophy, which itself has become incredibly buzzy in recent years. And Maria herself, as you will hear, is a big stoic enthusiast. That's why she injected the theme into this new novel. Although, as you will also hear her discuss, both she and her protagonist have some questions about the limits of stoic philosophy and practice. By way of context, I got to know Maria several years ago when I met her, and what I'm about to say is supremely bougie. I know it. But when I met her, when we were seated near one another at a dinner party at the TED conference where I was giving a speech, over the subsequent years, Maria and I have become really good friends. I've watched her go through quite a bit in her personal life, including divorce and a cross country move, And then, of course, all the labor that she put into this new book. So it's really moving and fun for me to watch this book come out and be so well received. And then to get to interview her right here on this show, where, as you will hear, she did a great job. You're gonna love this conversation. Before we dive in, just real quick, I wanna point out that one great way to improve how you handle the problems in your life and in the world at large is meditation, which is why I would love for you to check out my new meditation app, 10% with Dan Harris. As you may know, I had a meditation app for many years, and then I went through a painful separation from that app. And now I've got this new thing, which I'm really happy about. Many of the same teachers from the old app are on this app. People like …