How to chill like a stoic

Anger, frustration, and fear have been alongside us like really insistent stray dogs for a long time now and I bravely assume that, in one way or another, we all have an intimate knowledge of them.

Sometimes we take the hits well, our favorite team loses a match or the presentation we prepared didn't impress the viewers as much as we expected. Other times, loved ones die and families lose homes. To assume life is fair is as mad as believing in the happily ever after. (word on the streets says Cinderella got a divorce and the seven dwarfs died of rubella.)

The concept of Stoicism comes from a man who lost everything he had in a shipwreck near Athens. As you can assume, the coolest things to do there in 300 BC were reading and spending time discussing with or simply listening to the popular philosophers of the city. After some time there, being a man of wit and wisdom himself, our former merchant, known as Zeno of Citium, started preaching about this Stoicism thing alongside the people who taught him, in the Agora.

Becoming a renowned "influencer" of the time, Zeno managed to make the common Athenian see that his philosophy worked better than any stress-relieving app, fidget spinner, or margaritas during a casual Friday at the office.

Stoics believed that the world is supported by a very intricate network of cause and effect…