Being Stoic today.
We live in an age of manufactured urgency. Every notification demands attention. Every headline insists on outrage. Every scroll whispers that we're falling behind.
The ancient Stoics understood something we're still learning: the difference between what we control and what we don't.
Marcus Aurelius led an empire. Epictetus was born a slave. Same insight: our power lies not in controlling external events, but in choosing our response to them.
The Work That Matters
You can't control whether your job will exist next year. You can control whether you show up with integrity today.
You can't control how others receive your work. You can control the effort and honesty you put into it.
You can't control outcomes. You can control whether you act according to your values.
The Stoics weren't trying to create a world without difficulty. They were trying to create people who could meet difficulty with wisdom and grace.
The Practice
This happens in small moments: choosing patience when frustrated, speaking truth when silence is easier, showing up when you're tired, being kind when you're hurt.
The world won't get less chaotic. The future won't become more certain. External conditions will continue to include things you cannot control.
But you can control your attention. Your effort. Your integrity. How you treat others. Whether you waste today worrying about tomorrow.
The Stoics believed that's enough. Today, it still is.
