Seneca's words will resonate with anyone who's lain awake at night, weighed down by worries that, by daylight, seem less formidable.

Perhaps you've fretted over an event weeks in advance, losing sleep over scenarios that never come to pass. We're often our own tormentors, conjuring storms in tranquil skies.

How often have you braced for a difficult conversation, only to find it go smoother than expected? Seneca is pointing out our tendency to amplify our suffering through negative anticipation and presumption.

Consider how your life might shift if you applied a bit of Stoic wisdom to these self-inflicted woes. What if, instead of letting the specter of what 'might' happen twist your stomach into knots, you focused on what is happening right now?

The next time you catch yourself forecasting doom, pause. Ask yourself: Is this worry based on fact or fiction? By staying present and challenging these torturous thoughts, you can deflate them, often realizing they're paper tigers, not the monsters under the bed we make them out to be.

Channel Seneca's wisdom, and you just might find a sense of calm in the eye of your own imagined hurricanes.