[stadium]

Stoicism is a tricky concept to internalize without first dealing with the underlying emotional responses.

Learning about something and knowing it's a better way feels good in the short term, but the risk for someone stuck in some deep emotional traumas like OP described is similar to telling an alcoholic to stop drinking.

Definitely +1 on the therapy

[bitexploder]

The modern approach is for a therapist to get you to use CBT, which has a lot of roots in stoic philosophy. I backed into it over time… it’s powerful, but I could see how it can make things worse too. It’s something that definitely takes time to understand and integrate. I use the pieces that make sense. Especially the dichotomy of control (hence my recommendation). It’s simple enough to help sort out life problems and focus on what can be impacted. When it all clicks though, it can make life decisions effortless (in my experience). Not for everyone though :)