At the center of Epictetus’ teaching is the attainment of happiness. A necessary condition is that we know which things depend on us and which do not. Those that do not depend on us, we must know that we cannot change, and we must simply endure them, since it is futile to worry about them or fight against them.

We can change only those things that depend on us, and thus we can govern ourselves in order to achieve happiness. This distinction made by Epictetus is especially important. If we cannot make this distinction, we are doomed to regard as important those things that are in fact insignificant.

For Epictetus, it is important to adapt to what happens in our lives and not to regard it as bad or good, but as indifferent. The indifferent, then, whether they have a positive content (health, life, wealth, friends, family, etc.) or a negative one (death, illness, poverty, etc.), do not lead to the attainment of happiness, which is characterized by apathy and tranquility.

Facing life's adversities with calm, without losing our inner peace, can be achieved by correctly evaluating the perceptions we have of things.