We can’t control what disasters a new year may bring. Stoicism can help us get up and try again

A 1715 depiction of the stoic Epictetus, who argued life’s chief task was to determine what we can and cannot control. Illustration: Mary Evans Picture Library/Alamy/Edward Ivie

I am a worrier. Long before I read about the stoics, I tended to begin my days with what they call a premeditatio malorum – a rumination on all the very worst things that could happen in the next 24 hours. These days, I achieve the same effect by logging on to Twitter (or X, as nobody but Elon Musk will ever call it).

To exist in the age of globalised social media is to wake up to the news that the worst has happened somewhere and, somehow, it’s your fault. Looking ahead to 2024, the thought of 365 more days of the worst possible happenings actually happening – and my being somehow complicit, if only as witness – doesn’t exactly fill me with festive cheer.