Stoicism

Stoicism was a philosophy that flourished in Ancient Greece and Rome and of all the philosophy books, it was the one which has stuck with me and probably the most famous advocate was Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius who wrote the book 'Meditations'.
It isn't an easy read, written in flowery prose full of thou's and dost but the overarching philosophy of Stoicism is don't waste your time and energy concerning yourself with things you have no influence over or as Aurelius put it 'Focus on what you can do, and not what you can't. There is nothing you can do about the past or future, you can only influence the present' which is great advice and basically what he took 256 pages to say.
It has certainly helped me in my career where we see and hear some awful things, much worse than the highly diluted versions which make it on to the TV News and newspapers which is sanitised for reasons of decency and to avoid giving the viewers and readers PTSD afterwards but it is hard not to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of daunting news on climate catastrophes, conflicts, humanitarian crises, murders and wars and anyone in all walks of life can suddenly feel inundated and buried in a deluge of unsettling news stories.
For a period dating from 300BC to third-century AD, stoicism was a popular philosophy that helped many in the ancient world deal with plagues, political instability, wars, high infant mortality, famine and exile but it does seem to be enjoying a resurgence in dealing with modern day problems.
Stoicism says that our realm of control consists of our own actions and reactions and we need not bother with things out of our control such as wars, travel delays, the weather, natural disasters, murders, politics, riots, the past, the future, pandemics, aging and dying so as they are all out of our control, are they worth worrying about?
It isn't always easy, strong human emotions are always in play but Aurelius hit the nail right on the head with his wise words to focus on what you can affect, and not what you can't because if nothing else it will make you calmer and make you realise that you shouldn't let events you cannot influence ruin your day.