Stoa›Seneca›on anxiety

4 BCE–65 CE · Stoicism

Seneca on anxiety

Seneca's great theme was that fear feeds on imagination. We rehearse disasters that never arrive and pay for them in advance, suffering many times over things that happen once or not at all.

We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.

Seneca — Letters to Lucilius, 13

Try this

Ask of each worry: is it certain, or only possible?
Deal with what is real today, not the rehearsals of the mind.

Questions

What did Seneca say about anxiety?

Seneca's great theme was that fear feeds on imagination. We rehearse disasters that never arrive and pay for them in advance, suffering many times over things that happen once or not at all.

Where did Seneca write about anxiety?

In Letters to Lucilius, 13.

Ask Seneca about your anxiety

Put your own situation to Seneca and hear the answer in their own words.