Ryan Holiday of Daily Stoic has a great new book that just came out: RIGHT THING, RIGHT NOW. He also continues to share his Daily Stoic message free to all. Today’s message can be found here: dailystoic.com/are-you-allowed-to-cry/

Yes, it’s not unmanly to cry. Here’s Holiday’s pearl of wisdom of today:

“A Stoic is invulnerable. A Stoic is tough. A Stoic is emotionless. A Stoic doesn’t—can’t—cry, right? Well, Marcus Aurelius sure seemed to think otherwise.​

Here we have him weeping over the death of a beloved tutor (let the boy be human, Antoninus said when someone tried to stop him). Here we have him breaking down at the thought of becoming emperor. Here we have him crying over the loss of so many during the plague. Here we have him tearing up at the assassinated body of his rival, Avidius Cassius, mourning the murdered opportunity to grant the man clemency.

The point is: Marcus Aurelius didn’t see any contradiction with these shows of emotion. He didn’t think it was unmanly to be sad or to mourn. In fact, the only time we do have Marcus talking about an emotion not being “manly” is in reference to losing your temper. (We have a great Daily Stoic course on “taming your temper,” by the way).

Besides that, the Stoics would say it’s OK to let it out sometimes. Don’t feel bad if that’s what you need. Life can be a bit of a pressure cooker at times, and like an actual pressure cooker, you’ve got to hit the release valve every so often so that the whole thing doesn’t explode in your face. You’re only human. So be human—not just once, but all the time—and let yourself feel.”