The Strong Stoic Podcast

Tanner is the founder of Practical Philosophy and the host of the Practical Stoicism podcast. He’s currently working on what is in my opinion a very noble goal – a platform for academics to independently share their wisdom with those willing to hear it. He has also authored a book called “Practical Stoicism” and has another, “Stoicism But Brief” coming out very soon so stay tuned for that. In this episode, Tanner and I talk about Stoicism, of course, but in the context of the Western world. Stoicism is a Western philosophy by definition, but how could it be that our current value system in the west is misaligned with virtue ethics? I really enjoyed chatting with Tanner and our conversation took many surprising yet interesting twists and turns. Without further ado, please welcome Tanner Campbell. You can find Tanner here: www.tannercampbell.net Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom Petty said, “some say life will beat you down, break your heart, steal your crown”. That seems like a rather pessimistic take on life! However, we add pessimism to our heads. Perhaps Petty wasn’t referring to this as an inherently bad thing. Tragedy, heat break, etc. are viewed as indifferents in Stoicism, but they could also be viewed as good if we use them to improve our character. Could we go so far as to say that suffering could perhaps come to us if we’re lucky? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Corey Robinson is a former member of Canada’s National Wrestling Team who has also served as both a national and provincial coach of Olympic freestyle wrestling. He is currently a specialist of social impact at Motivate Canada, which is an organization which focuses on youth-driven development all over Canada. He also is a coach at CrossFit Basinview for those of you in the Halifax area. In this episode, Corey and I talk about what it means to really do your best – in the gym but also in life. We also delve into the importance of competition, living up to standards, and much more. Without further ado, please welcome Corey Robinson. www.motivatecanada.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a common moral dilemma brought up as a way to illustrate the complexity of situations. These dilemmas are often a version of sacrificing one for the many. If there was an army coming your way, and the leader of the army asked you to either sacrifice one of your friends or to be prepared to be destroyed. What’s the right response here? It’s perhaps easy to justify sacrificing the one to save the many… but is that the right response? The Strong Stoic Podcast is a raw, honest, and unapologetically deep podcast about philosophy and self-improvement. Join your host, Brandon Tumblin, as he breaks down a wide variety of complex and difficult topics aimed at provoking thought and opening your perspective. This podcast is listener-supported; if you would like to support the Strong Stoic (as well as gain access to exclusive content), you can do so on Patreon or Substack: Patreon: www.patreon.com/brandontumblin Substack: https://strongstoic.substack.com You can also find me at my website and on social media: Podcast Website: www.brandontumblin.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestrongstoic Twitter: https://twitter.com/thestrongstoic Medium: https://thestrongstoic.medium.com/    Telegram Channel: https://t.me/strongstoicpodcast Telegram Chat: https://t.me/strongstoicchat The Walled Garden: www.thewalledgarden.com The Stoic Gym: https://thestoicgym.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Megan McElheran is a Clinical Psychologist and the Chief Executive Officer of Wayfound Mental Health Group, practicing in Calgary, AB. Her work over the last 16 years has been exclusively in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of Operational Stress Injuries (OSI) in active-duty military, Veterans, and public safety personnel (e.g., police, firefighters, paramedics, corrections, etc.). Megan does extremely important work in the world, and I was very happy for her to sit down and chat with me. In this episode, we discuss life’s hardest truths, dealing with trauma, losing faith, and much more. There are two parts to this interview – the first is the standard Strong Stoic guest conversation followed by a 20 minute interview talking about Megan’s career and her road to success. The second interview will be exclusively released on my Patreon and Substack, so consider joining there if you’re interested. Without further ado, please welcome Dr. Megan McElheran. You can find Megan: https://wayfound.ca/leadership_team/dr-megan-mcelheran/ Find this episode on: https://linktr.ee/Strongstoic The Strong Stoic Podcast is a raw, honest, and unapologetically deep podcast about philosophy and self-improvement. Join your host, Brandon Tumblin, as he breaks down a wide variety of complex and difficult topics aimed at provoking thought and opening your perspective. This podcast is listener-supported; if you would like to support the Strong Stoic (as well as gain access to exclusive content), you can do so on Patreon or Substack: Patreon: www.patreon.com/brandontumblin Substack: https://strongstoic.substack.com You can also find me at my website and on social media: Podcast Website: www.brandontumblin.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestrongstoic Twitter: https://twitter.com/thestrongstoic Medium: https://thestrongstoic.medium.com/ Telegram Channel: https://t.me/strongstoicpodcast Telegram Chat: https://t.me/strongstoicchat The Walled Garden: www.thewalledgarden.com The Stoic Gym: https://thestoicgym.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I recently did an episode on the vitalness of showing up for yourself. No one else is coming. If you want to make your life better, then YOU must make your life better. As the old adage goes, “you can bring a horse to the water, but you can’t make them drink it”. However, we are also all here for each other. I’ve often said in the past that we should acquire strength, first, to lift ourselves up and second, to lift others up. This is the other side of the coin. But what can we really do to help each other? You can support this podcast, as well as gain additional bonus content, through Patreon or Substack: Patreon: www.patreon.com/brandontumblin Substack: https://strongstoic.substack.com Podcast Website: www.brandontumblin.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestrongstoic Twitter: https://twitter.com/thestrongstoic Medium: https://thestrongstoic.medium.com/    Telegram Channel: https://t.me/strongstoicpodcast Telegram Chat: https://t.me/strongstoicchat The Walled Garden: www.thewalledgarden.com The Stoic Gym: https://thestoicgym.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1882, Nietzsche stated in his book The Gay Science that “God is dead”. He wasn’t celebrating this fact; in fact, he was quite concerned about it. Dostoevsky, the author of some of the greatest books of all time, was concerned as well. In 1879, he published The Brothers Karamazov, and in it, one of his characters said “If God doesn’t exist then everything is permissible”. These statements were made about 3 years about, which is fascinating. Here we have two of the greatest philosophers of all time – one exclaiming almost reluctantly that “God is dead”, the other saying that “If God doesn’t exist then everything goes”. The question, really, becomes: do we need God for morality? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shane is an author, educator, and strength and conditioning coordinator. His book “Setting the Bar: Preparing Our Kids to Thrive in an Era of Distraction, Dependency, and Entitlement” is a book that I often recommend to teachers, parents, or anyone else with kids in their lives. He’s dedicated to improving youth development, and my personal exchanges with Shane have led me to the conclusion that this guy “walks the walk” just as much as he “talks the talk”. This is his third time on the podcast, and in this episode, we start the conversation reacting to a video where a high school teacher and student get into a fight. We then dissect the underlying issues for this horrid situation and discuss solutions. There are two parts to this interview – the first is the standard Strong Stoic guest conversation followed by a 20-minute interview talking about Shane’s career and his road to success. The second interview will be exclusively released on my Patreon, so consider becoming a Patron if you want to learn from the people of success. Without further ado, please welcome, Shane Trotter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the past few months, I’ve been releasing episodes on self-improvement, showing up for yourself, and forming good habits, and they seem to be well-received. Of course, my thoughts on these topics are in constant evolution, and I’ve come to ponder the question: if we were to distill down to the essentials what’s important, what would we be left with? And I don’t mean in terms of values, though that’s important, I simply mean: what defines the spirit of individuals that allows it to transcend the evil and incompetence of our current insufficient condition? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are two seemingly contradictory ideas in Stoicism. The first is that we should not let externals dictate our actions. The second is that we are all part of a larger whole. In sum, the question becomes: is it Stoic to be a product of your environment? Or perhaps: if you are different around different people, are you still genuinely yourself (and hence, Stoic)? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices