*In the meantime, cling tooth and nail to the following rule: not to give in to adversity, not to trust prosperity, and always take full note of fortune’s habit of behaving just as she pleases. *

• *—SENECA

            *God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change

            The courage to change the things I can,

            And the wisdom to know the difference.*

This is how they focus their efforts. It’s a lot easier to fight addiction when you aren’t also fighting the fact that you were born, that your parents were monsters, or that you lost everything. That stuff is done. Delivered. Zero in one hundred chances that you can change it.

So what if you focused on what you can change? That’s where you can make a difference.

Behind the Serenity Prayer is a two-thousand-year-old Stoic phrase: “ta eph’hemin, ta ouk eph’hemin.”  What is up to us, what is not up to us.

And what is up to us?

    Our emotions

    Our judgments

    Our creativity

    Our attitude

    Our perspective

    Our desires

    Our decisions

    Our determination

This is our playing field, so to speak. Everything there is fair game.

What is not up to us?

Well, you know, everything else. The weather, the economy, circumstances, other people’s emotions or judgments, trends, disasters, etc

If what’s up to us is the playing field, then what is not up to us are the rules and conditions of the game. Factors that winning athletes make the best of and don’t spend time arguing against (because there is no point).

To argue, to complain, or worse, to just give up, these are choices. Choices that more often than not, do nothing to get us across the finish line.

[Source: The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph]