The Stoics were realists. Not necessarily in the geo-political sense but in the ‘what’s real is real’ sense. They would have agreed with Bulgakov when he said that “fact is the most stubborn thing in the world.”

No amount of denying, crying, or trying changes what has happened. Or changes something you didn’t want to happen into what you wanted to happen. That something is inconvenient, because ‘you really can’t deal right now,’ because you worked so damn hard for it to go right—none of this matters. What matters is that what’s in front of you is in front of you.

The Stoics would say that you can’t argue with reality. You can, however, argue quite successfully with your feelings about reality. Those can be changed quite easily. So if you don’t like something, if you want something to be different, start there.