When you feel anxious or stressed, remind yourself:
Many of the things that cause us stress and anxiety, the Stoics believed, are a product of the imagination, not reality.
We spend so much time worried about how bad things are going to be. We torture ourselves more than the thing weâre worried about ever couldâŠthat is, if it happens at all. As Mark Twain quipped, quip: âI am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.â
So âwhat I advise you to do is,â Seneca continued, âdo not be unhappy before the crisis comesâŠWe are in the habit of exaggerating, or imagining, or anticipating, sorrow.â Donât anticipate sorrow. Donât let anxiety and worry get the best of you. Stay in the present. Focus on what you can control.
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