🌳 Control What You Can, Let Go of What You Can't

Welcome to the Simply Stoicism Getting Started Series! Over the next 4 weeks, we're breaking down Stoicism into bite-sized, actually-useful lessons. No togas required. No ancient Greek to memorize. Just practical wisdom for modern chaos.

Here's what's coming:

• Week 1: Control What You Can, Let Go of What You Can't

• Week 2: Your Feelings Are Not Facts (The Stoic Guide to Emotional Intelligence)

• Week 3: The Stoic Time Machine (Why Thinking About Death Makes Life Better)

• Week 4: Your Stoic Starter Kit (Daily Practices That Actually Work)

Why these four? Because they're the foundation everything else builds on. Master these, and you'll handle life's chaos like Marcus Aurelius handling a pandemic (spoiler: he did it pretty well).

Let's dive into Week 1...

💡 Stoic Lesson of The Week

Your morning has been a highlight reel of Murphy's Law: Coffee maker dead. Traffic jam from hell. Your presentation crashes right as the CEO walks in. And now your coworker is taking credit for your project while you silently plan their social destruction.

Deep breath. Here's the thing about control – you have both more and less of it than you think.

"Some things are in our control, while others are not. We control our opinions, desires, aversions, and, in a word, everything of our own doing." - Epictetus

Look, Epictetus wasn't just dropping philosophical fortune cookies here. He was onto something huge: Most of our daily stress comes from trying to control things we simply can't. We're like a dog barking at the ocean, thinking we can stop the waves.

The real power move? Getting crystal clear about what's actually in your control. Spoiler alert: It's not other people, the weather, or whether your favorite show gets canceled. It's your responses, your decisions, and your actions. That's your territory. Everything else? It's just weather.

🎯 How to Actually Use This

• When something pisses you off, ask: "Do I have direct control over this?" If no, you're trying to control the ocean. Stop barking.

• During your morning routine: List 3 things you're worried about. Label each "In My Control" or "Not My Control." Only plan actions for the first category.

• The moment you feel overwhelmed: Draw a circle. Inside it, write what you can control right now. Outside it goes everything else. Work inside the circle.

Try This Now: Take your biggest current problem. Break it into pieces. Sort them into "My Control" and "Not My Control." Notice how much mental energy you're spending in the wrong column.

📖 Story Time

Picture this: You're a respected philosophy teacher. Then boom – you're arrested, convicted of a crime you didn't commit, and exiled from your home. Everything you built? Gone.

This actually happened to Musonius Rufus (think of him as the Stoic Navy SEAL instructor). Instead of plotting revenge or falling apart, he supposedly said: "Is being in exile stopping me from being just, courageous, or self-controlled? No? Then I haven't lost anything that truly matters."

Savage, right? He understood that while he couldn't control his circumstance, he had complete control over how he showed up in that circumstance. He went on to teach philosophy in exile, influencing a generation of leaders.

🤔 Takeaway

You can't control the waves, but you can learn to surf.

Your Weekend Challenge: For the next 24 hours, before reacting to any annoyance, ask yourself: "Is this actually in my control?" Then act accordingly.

Here's a question to sit with: What would change in your life if you stopped trying to control things you can't and focused all that energy on what you can?

P.S. I would really appreciate it if you would answer the below 1 question survey 😁