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When you can't escape suffering, you learn to cope with it in your mind instead of by escaping the stimulus. This allows you to adapt to a new normal and take what actions you can, optimizing for what you can control.

I see an interesting parallel with mindfulness here.

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Isn't the right solution to {chronic pain, trauma and broken self-worth, inability to afford safe housing} to escape the internal/external situations incompatible with a fulfilling life, rather than to optimize for a "new normal" devoid of safety and a healthy environment? The problem arises when finding a better state is unattainable with the mental and financial resources available.

The Buddha might tell us that all life is suffering, and we all need some level of mindfulness just to get through the day. Some pain is escapable and some is not, and what is healthy is more situational than most people realize.

Stoicism is the practice of vigilance in order to partition the world into things over which you have control vs no control. The goal is to shift your engagement with the world to only account for, but not fret over, the latter, while you spend your attention and time on the former.

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