“Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.” — Epictetus, Enchiridion 1 (Elizabeth Carter)
Micro-Lesson#
The Stoics did not teach indifference. They taught precision. Everything you suffer from falls into one of two baskets: what is up to you (your judgments, intentions, efforts, responses) and what is not (outcomes, others’ opinions, the weather, the past, the market, your boss’s mood). You will be freer the moment you stop trying to command the second basket. This single distinction, repeated daily for thirty days, becomes a reflex.
Exercise (15 min)#
- Draw two columns on a page: “Up to me” and “Not up to me.”
- Write everything that stressed you in the last 48 hours into one of the two columns.
- Cross out the “Not up to me” list. Read it aloud once. Then move on.
Journal Prompt#
Where in my life am I spending energy on the “not up to me” column as if it were “up to me”?