Background: Epictetus (AD 55–135) was a Greek Stoic philosopher born into slavery. Despite his circumstances, he became one of the most influential teachers of Stoicism. His teachings remind us that while we cannot control external events, we can control how we interpret and respond to them.
“One’s own burden is lightest.”
—Epictetus
Before encountering this quote, I assumed difficulty came from circumstances themselves—school pressure, family stress, expectations, uncertainty. I believed problems were heavy because life made them heavy. But as I learned more about philosophy, I began to see a different pattern: sometimes the heaviest burdens were the ones I created inside my own mind.
I used to carry everything with me. A disappointing grade became a sign of future failure. A disagreement at home became a prediction of long-term conflict. A single mistake meant something was wrong with me. Each challenge wasn’t just an event—I turned it into a story, a future, a judgment. The burden wasn’t the situation. It was the meaning I added to it.
When I first read Epictetus’ words, I didn’t understand them. How could my own burden be the lightest? My thoughts felt like the heaviest things I carried. But slowly, the meaning unfolded. The burdens we are meant to carry—our responsibilities, choices, and actions—are not impossibly heavy. What crushes us is trying to carry things that were never ours: others’ opinions, imagined futures, things far outside our control.
The burden becomes lighter when I pick up only what is mine:
My effort, not the outcome.
My character, not others’ approval.
My response, not the situation.
My choices, not the uncontrollable.
There was a moment when this idea truly made sense. One evening I was studying for an exam, already tired from school and anxious about whether my parents would argue again at night. My mind kept drifting, creating scenarios about tomorrow, next week, next year. I felt overwhelmed by possibilities that didn’t even exist yet. Then I stopped. I asked myself: What part of this is actually mine to carry right now? The answer was simple—just the page in front of me. Not the future, not the noise at home, not the result. Just the work.
In focusing on what was mine, everything became lighter.
Philosophy didn’t erase my challenges, and it didn’t make life magically simple. But it helped me see which burdens I could let go of. When I carry only what belongs to me, I find I am strong enough. I find that I can walk forward, uncrushed. The world doesn’t change, but the weight I choose to carry does.
True ease doesn’t come from life becoming lighter—it comes from learning which burdens are truly ours, and which we can lay down.
2025-01-20