When you are dealing with a difficult situation, it can be challenging to see the positive. This is where being grateful can help. It doesn't mean that you are grateful for the difficulties, but instead, you should be showing gratitude for the positive things that are going on in your life, even if they are small. 

Meditations 5.5 states Thou sayest, Men cannot admire the sharpness of thy wits.- Be it so: but there are many other things of which thou canst not say, I am not formed for them by nature. Show those qualities then which are altogether in thy power, sincerity, gravity, endurance of labour, aversion to pleasure, contentment with thy portion and with few things, benevolence, frankness, no love of superfluity, freedom from trifling magnanimity.

Gratitude can help you see your current situation in a way that can lessen the panic, and open your thinking to new solutions to your problems.  

You go through life feeling as if you’re not educated enough, skilled enough, smart enough, talented enough, pretty enough, or handsome enough. You judge yourself, often thinking of what you could have, should have said or done, and you always fall short. 

What Stoicism does to help you change this and build your confidence is replace the feelings that you’re not enough with the trust that you are. Using Stoicism calls for you to not dwell on your past or on any negative experiences where you feel that you failed or fell short.

What occasion is there, then, for fear? What occasion for anger, for desire, about things that belong to others, or are of no value? For two rules we should always have ready, — that there is nothing good or evil save in the Will; and that we are not to lead events, but to follow them. Epictetus, Discourses, 3.10. 17-18

It helps you to not focus on the future or on what you hope to be and it helps train you to focus on who you are right now and see that who you are is good enough. You learn to accept yourself - and with that, a strong confidence in yourself is built. 

When we have a fixed mindset, we tend to stunt our growth and stop ourselves from getting what we want in life. We have that little voice in our heads that we listen to that tells us that we won't succeed, that something is impossible, or that we don't have the skills to get what we want. This kind of thinking keeps us stuck. 

Philosophy can help with this. Seneca writes in Letter 16.3 Philosophy is no trick to catch the public; it is not devised for show. It is a matter, not of words, but of facts. It is not pursued in order that the day may yield some amusement before it is spent, or that our leisure may be relieved of a tedium that irks us. It moulds and constructs the soul; it orders our life, guides our conduct, shows us what we should do and what we should leave undone; it sits at the helm and directs our course as we waver amid uncertainties. Without it, no one can live fearlessly or in peace of mind. Countless things that happen every hour call for advice; and such advice is to be sought in philosophy.

We all want things, but to get them, we have to change our thinking. 

The horrible thing about certain situations is that the suddenness makes you even more anxious. It tends to create a feedback loop that can leave you feeling helpless and trapped, which leads to you feeling even worse.

Stoicism teaches us that it is not the situations themselves but our impressions that we control. However sometimes when we are faced with something, our reaction time may vary. It may be instantaneous requiring an immediate interpretation or we have a few seconds to ascertain the environment around us and form a judgement about it. Different people also react differently. 

Seneca writes in Moral Letters 57.4-5  4. For there are certain emotions, my dear Lucilius, which no courage can avoid; nature reminds courage how perishable a thing it is. And so he will contract his brow when the prospect is forbidding, will shudder at sudden apparitions, and will become dizzy when he stands at the edge of a high precipice and looks down. This is not fear; it is a natural feeling which reason cannot rout. That is why certain brave men, most willing to shed their own blood, cannot bear to see the blood of others. Some persons collapse and faint at the sight of a freshly inflicted wound; others are affected similarly on handling or viewing an old wound which is festering. And others meet the sword-stroke more readily than they see it dealt.

There are some quick ways you can ready your reasoning mind when it requires a quick reaction. 

Making peace with failure is important if you want to succeed in life. Some failures in the past may have scarred you for life, but it doesn’t mean you should give up altogether. 

Discourses 4.9.8-11 states “But formerly you did not so much as think of any of these things; but only where you might find a decent discourse, a worthy person, a noble design. For this reason, you used to appear like a man both at home and abroad; to wear a manly dress; to hold discourses worthy of a man. And after this, do you tell me you have lost nothing? What then, do men lose nothing but money? Is not modesty to be lost? Is not decency to be lost? Or can he who loses these suffer no injury? You indeed perhaps no longer think anything of this sort  to be an injury. But there was once a time when you accounted this to be the only injury and hurt; when you were anxiously afraid lest any one should shake your regard from such discourses and actions. See, it is not shaken by another, but by yourself. Fight against yourself, recover yourself to decency, to modesty, to freedom.”

Find out how you can make peace with failure.

Having a negative mindset will ultimately lead you to live an unhappy life and suffer from depression. It can even end up influencing the decisions you make in both your personal and professional life. 

Seneca wrote in Moral Letters 71 23-24 Why do you marvel if it helps a man, and on occasion even pleases him, to be burned, wounded, slain, or bound in prison? To a luxurious man, a simple life is a penalty; to a lazy man, work is punishment; the dandy pities the diligent man; to the slothful, studies are torture. Similarly, we regard those things with respect to which we are all infirm of disposition, as hard and beyond endurance, forgetting what a torment it is to many men to abstain from wine or to be routed from their beds at break of day. These actions are not essentially difficult; it is we ourselves that are soft and flabby. We must pass judgment concerning great matters with greatness of soul; otherwise, that which is really our fault will seem to be their fault. So it is that certain objects which are perfectly straight, when sunk in water appear to the onlooker as bent or broken off.[15] It matters not only what you see, but with what eyes you see it; our souls are too dull of vision to perceive the truth.

You’ve probably got a knot in your stomach right now just thinking about tough times. How do you deal with tough times when they come your way?

Stoicsm prepares us to deal with tough situations. It makes us stronger as indivduals as a result.

Meditations 8.32 states “Make yourself regular, by regulating your several actions, one by one; so that if each action answers its end, and have what perfection belongs to it, you may be satisfied. Now, in this, nothing can hinder you. But, say you, may not  something external withstand me? Nothing can hinder you to act the just, the temperate, the wise part. Some external effects of your actions may be obstructed; but, then, there may arise another action of your’s, equally suited to this regularity and orderly composition of life, we are speaking of; in your acquiescence under this impediment, and your calmly converting yourself to that conduct which is in your power.”

Is it even possible to remain positive when your surroundings look so bleak? When your goals seem so far away and seemingly impossible to reach? In addition to the practice of Stoicism there are ways to keep your chin up. 

Thanksgiving isn't the only time you should practice gratitude. However, many studies have found there are many benefits in making gratitude a year-round habit. To enjoy the many mental and physical benefits of gratitude all it takes is a little bit of introspection. 

Moral Letters 78.3-4 stated “Now I shall tell you what consoled me during those days, stating at the outset that these very aids to my peace of mind were as efficacious as medicine. Honourable consolation results in a cure; and whatever has uplifted the soul helps the body also. My studies were my salvation. I place it to the credit of philosophy that I recovered and regained my strength. I owe my life to philosophy, and that is the least of my obligations!  My friends, too, helped me greatly toward good health; I used to be comforted by their cheering words, by the hours they spent at my bedside, and by their conversation. Nothing, my excellent Lucilius, refreshes and aids a sick man so much as the affection of his friends; nothing so steals away the expectation and the fear of death. In fact, I could not believe that, if they survived me, I should be dying at all. Yes, I repeat, it seemed to me that I should continue to live, not with them, but through them. I imagined myself not to be yielding up my soul, but to be making it over to them.”

There are different benefits you can gain from developing an attitude of gratitude. 

If your self-confidence is low, you will find it exceedingly difficult to accomplish your goals and achieve success. Everybody, at some point in their life, has suffered from low self-confidence. 

Self confidence can result from Stoic practice. It is not arrogance but becoming comfortable with ourselves through our well being and contentment in life. 

Enchiridion 19 states You may be unconquerable, if you enter into no combat in which it is not in your own control to conquer. When, therefore, you see anyone eminent in honors, or power, or in high esteem on any other account, take heed not to be hurried away with the appearance, and to pronounce him happy; for, if the essence of good consists in things in our own control, there will be no room for envy or emulation. But, for your part, don't wish to be a general, or a senator, or a consul, but to be free; and the only way to this is a contempt of things not in our own control.

The key to building your self-esteem in today's world is to be persistent and find the ways to build confidence that work for you so that you can do everything you've set out to do in your life. 

If your fears and anxiety are holding you back from living the life you want, you’re not alone. More than 40 million adults in the United States suffer from an anxiety disorder. The good news is that there are studies that show by facing your fears you can gain the courage you need to overcome other concerns that you may have. 

Stoicism reinforces this by showing we have control with our mind and will. Through this we can assess and face fears.  

Discourses 2.1.8-9 states “But we are in the same condition with deer; when these in a fright fly from the plumes  , whither do they turn, and to what do they retire for safety? To the nets. And thus they are undone, by inverting the objects of fear and confidence. Thus we, too. When do we yield to fear? About things inevitable. When, on the other hand, do we behave with courage, as if there were nothing to be dreaded? About things that might be controlled by will.”

There are different ways used for facing your fears and overcoming anxiety.