We have control over how we approach things, rather than imagining a perfect world – a utopia –

the Stoic practices realism and pragmatism, dealing with the world as it is - no strings attached,
while pursuing one’s self-improvement through virtues such as:

1. Wisdom: understanding the world without prejudice, logically and calmly

2. Courage: facing daily challenges and struggles with no complaints

3. Justice: treating others fairly

4. Temperance: voluntary self-restraint or moderation – where an individual refrains from

doing something by sheer will power

People who cultivate these virtues can bring positive change in themselves and in others.

Today, we colloquially use the word stoic to mean someone who faces pain or hardship without
the display of feeling and without complaint. Someone who remains calm under pressure
avoiding emotional extremes. While this notion is important to Stoicism, the philosophy goes
beyond just an attitude.

Stoicism can help us find calmness in a world filled with pain, anxiety, and insatiable desires. To
Stoics, we live in a reality that does not care about our personal opinions, we cannot ask it to
remove the suffering and pain. But this does not mean we are helpless, there are two domains of
life: the external, the things that happen in our lives which we cannot control, and the internal,
how our mind reacts and interprets the external reality, which we can control.

Focusing on the things we cannot control will make us endlessly unsatisfied. We must then focus
solely on what we can control. Our sense of joy comes from the pursuit of the meaningful things
in our lives, not superficial things.

A truly satisfied person is someone who can live without the things that he desires or feels
comfort with. No wealth, material abundancy, fame or power has any value if the person who
possesses them has not yet learned to live properly without them, it is after all, temporary.

As Marcus Aurelius puts it “Almost nothing material is needed for a happy life for he who has
understood existence”

Temporarily refraining ourselves from the things that we depend on can prove how truly strong
you are without the things that you think you need. Only then can we know that we have been
using them not because we needed them, but because we had them.

We must realize that nothing is good or bad inherently, but only our judgments and
interpretations of things can be good or bad.
We should strive in an acceptance and indifference towards everything that happens and instead,
focus our attention on controlling our reactions to the things that happen. Acting virtuously
regardless of misfortunes life might bring us.

With this we can begin to get rid of the chaos of the world and find some form of happiness and
presence within our self.

Life is not a sprint, we are usually unsatisfied with what our life is, and we compare ourselves to
other more successful people, constantly looking to the future potential of what our lives could
be. The reality is that we always live in the present, and we should not compare ourselves to
others, but rather focus on improving ourselves both mentally and physically.

It is hard since we are surrounded by a culture that convinces us that the more stuff we have and
the more popular we are, the more happier we will be. It is true that material stuff brings us
happiness, but it is a trap. It gives us short term pleasure and a desire for more material, an
insatiable desire that cannot be quenched since we want more and more.

The stuff we frequently chase in life reveal to be rather petty and insignificant in the grand
scheme of things. We must define our happiness not by what we own or achieve and not by
others see us as, but by how we think, how we view ourselves, and how we live our own life
through our virtues.

And this can be attained by accepting reality as it is, being indifferent to what we cannot control
and pursuing our own self-improvement. To Stoicism, this is how we remain happy and satisfied
with ourselves.