I can understand those who doubt the applicability of Stoic philosophy to today’s problems. Seneca lived a long time ago. How could he possibly foresee the problems we are facing today? Indeed, Seneca’s preoccupations did not resemble ours, but we shouldn’t assume that people in Ancient Rome faced fewer problems than people in our century. Nor that Seneca’s anxiety and worry experience was essentially different from ours. Philosophy is about principles, about immanent truths that, come what may, will remain applicable. If Seneca’s philosophy is true, then it remains applicable today because human nature has not changed one bit. Seneca’s insights on worry remain applicable today as it can be easily proven by applying them to real-life situations. There is nothing in today’s worry that Seneca, Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) and Epictetus (55-135 AD) had not experienced in a similar fashion. The stress produced by mobile communications and global competition is historically a new phenomenon, but I would put it in a similar category as the fear and anxiety experienced in Ancient Rome by individuals facing barbarian invasions and monetary debasement. Seneca’s insights become clearer if we apply them to recent events and personalities. I’m going to employ Joseph Pulitzer’s life story (1847-1911) as a test ground for Seneca’s insights on worry. If those insights worked for Pulitzer, I would argue that they will work equally well in our century. Pulitzer, who was of Hungarian origin, embodies the quinta-essential America story of the self-made millionaire. Starting his life as an immigrant into the United States of America, he worked himself up the system and accumulated a large fortune. When interviewed for magazine articles, Pulitzer would call himself “a poor boy who took advantage of great opportunities that were available.” Instead of looking for a pastoral lifestyle to escape worry, Pulitzer earned a fortune from it. Seneca’s anti-worry recipe calls for living in the present and adopting a balanced view of risks. He looked favourably on taking action to protect our assets and happiness, but regarded it as foolish to obsess about potential disasters without actually doing anything to avert them. From the very beginning of his career, Pulitzer employed Seneca’s philosophy to his benefit; he had understood that most people love to worry and obsess about potential threats instead of taking practical steps to counter them. Pulitzer was in his late teens when he landed his first job in journalism. He became a reporter in a local newspaper in St. Louis, and soon began to write passionate articles about social and political issues. His articles aimed at raising the reader’s concerns about the future, and polarising their opinions. Pulitzer categorised his journalism as a fight for justice, but Seneca would have viewed it as fuel for worry and preoccupation. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/putting-senecas-anti-worry-recipe-into-practice/