I quit my job, which I very much did not want to quit, due to COVID fears today. I did so not because I’m at risk of dying, but rather because I’m very afraid of getting COVID due to the unpleasantness of having it. I feel like I capitulated to my fear in a very un-stoic way. I want to be stronger.

Hey check out this book How To Think Like a Roman Emperor theres a decent section in there about anxiety. A couple of techniques from the book that might help you: give yourself a designated worry time and schedule it into your day and push off anxious thoughts until then. "De-catastrophize " by stating what you're anxious about with out assigning value judgements about whether the situation is bad or good and be as objective as possible without adding hyperbole like "this is gonna kill me, I'll never recover from this." Zoom out your perspective across a greater scope of space and time and realize things are the same as they've ever been Covid isnt as bad as the bubonic plague or even the Spanish Flu in terms of impact and diseases will always be around. Even during your life time theres been Ebola, Aids, Swine Flu etc. Accept that you can take all of the precautions you need to like wearing masks and gloves but ultimately some things will always be out of your control.

/r/Stoicism Thread Parent