Have you ever noticed that one of the key tenets of the Stoics [1] is essentially the Serenity Prayer?
The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own.
— Epictetus, Discourses, 2.5.4–5
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.
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