I agree that if taken to the extreme this is the case; but I don't believe Stoicism suggests one should take it to the extreme. Personally, I interpret "don't

I agree that if taken to the extreme this is the case; but I don't believe Stoicism suggests one should take it to the extreme. Personally, I interpret "don't worry about it" more as "don't get hung up on it", or "don't take it personally". I agree entirely that this should not mean dismiss everything as an unapproachable problem; for me, looking at things to understand whether they are inside or outside my control has largely helped me realise that even for many of the things outside of my control, there are elements I can affect, and I can focus my efforts on those. I get no benefit from being angry that my pizza delivery ended up one street over, nor from stressing that I was already between jobs before COVID made a mess of the job market. These are things I can't control. What I can control is my reaction. I could call the pizza place and complain, demand a refund, and tell everyone I know about their crappy service; I could leave bad reviews online, and hurt their business. I could blame COVID for everything, and sit inside watching Netflix for three months, wallowing. I could sit on my hands and wonder why people won't hire me, when I think I'm more than qualified for a position. Or, I can thank the person my pizza was delivered to for letting me know it had ended up at their door, and develop a new friendship with a neighbour. I can let the pizza shop know about what happened so they can avoid it in the future, so that their business improves and succeeds, helping them and their employees. I can take the time I have on my hands and learn a new skill to be more employable, and make contacts in a new industry. I can make efforts to reduce the overall impact of COVID and protect my loved ones by adhering to social distancing. I have chosen to try and make things better through my interactions with others, in large part because I know that some day I will die, and cease to be. I'm not sure I fully accept that yet, but understanding that I can't control it has led me to look at what I can control, and choose what I would like to do with the time I have. It has led me to actively making fond memories with people I care about, and helped me overcome the loss of loved ones by not being sad they are gone, but glad I got to share as much time with them as I did. It has led me to aim to leave a legacy of positivity and progress, and help lift others onto my shoulders where I can, so that I can be delighted by their successes; because in a long roundabout way, helping others succeed is how I can affect those big things that seem out of my control. It has helped me see that stuff is just stuff, and in many regards I am but a small part in a large machine. It has helped me make the conscious choice that I would like to leave things better than I found them.