Earlier this year, I was struggling in some of my classes, especially in Honors Precalculus—every test confusing me more than a 10×10 Rubik’s cube. But then I came across stoicism, which helped me live my life more peacefully.

Stoicism is an ancient Greek Philosophy that stresses focusing on the present moment. It was thought of in 300 BCE in Athens by Zeno of Citium (who most certainly did not own a Bugatti). The philosophy flourished in Rome and was embraced by Marcus Aurelius. Aurelius became a stoic and wrote his masterpiece Meditations on the ideas he found in stoicism. The stoic belief of “Momento Mori” means remembering that you will die; therefore, spending time stressing about past or future events is wasting precious time in your own life. Instead, one should focus on the present moment so they can actually live their life. 

Another stoic belief is Amor Fati or love of fate. This is the belief that suffering failures is necessary and only once one accepts their failures can they move on from them. After learning about this, I was able to accept my bad grades in Honors Precalculus and have felt less stressed throughout the week, but especially on E days.

If you want to learn more about this philosophy, you should read works from Epictetus as well as Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations.