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Stoicism for Anxiety
Anxiety lives in the future — in events we imagine but cannot control. The Stoics trained attention on what is actually in front of us and on what is actually ours to decide. Much of the worry dissolves when you separate the world from your reaction to it.
Stoic ideas for this
“Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things.”
Epictetus · Enchiridion
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Put it into practice
A Stoic tool is only useful if you actually use it. Try this small loop the next time anxiety shows up:
- Name it plainly. Say what is happening without the story you are adding on top of it.
- Split what’s yours from what isn’t. Invest your energy only in the part you can actually choose.
- Do one small thing. A single deliberate action today beats a week of intending to.
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