More than two thousand years have passed since Seneca first defined his methods for overcoming anxiety, worry and other negative emotions. The context has changed, but his examples and recommendations remain valid. I am going to summarise those methods, sometimes quoting Seneca’s precise words and examples, and other times, putting the method in the context of our century. For the sake of clarity, when I present Seneca’s insights, I’m going to use modern terminology. #seneca didn’t employ words such as “stress” or “desensitisation,” but that’s how people call those concepts nowadays. Seneca’s first method is desensitisation. If we jump into a cold-water swimming pool, we will find it highly unpleasant in the winter, but we might get used to it little by little. We could try first with semi-cold water and increase the difficulty slowly until we achieve our goal. In his 53rd Letter to Lucilius, Seneca encourages readers to “become accustomed to difficulties” as a method for increasing their resilience. If we get used little by little to handle anxiety effectively, we will grow able to keep a cool head in difficult situations. Desensitisation may be physical, emotional, financial, etc. It entails becoming accustomed to discomfort, so that we become able to tolerate certain levels of #risk or preoccupation. I would describe desensitisation as a physical, emotional or financial learning curve. The purpose of desensitisation is to draw more joy from life by making ourselves more resilient. If we push our limits, we can do things better and faster due to our increased resilience. Seneca affirms in his 53rd Letter to Lucilius that we should fear wasting our life more than we fear death. Desensitisation can help us make the best of each day. Seneca recommends us to stop thinking about unlikely catastrophes. In his 13th Letter to Lucilius, he remarks that we tend to create lots of unnecessary #suffering for ourselves due to our exaggerated fears. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/senecas-methods-for-overcoming-stress/