The Stoic notion that we should not desire what we cannot control is also relevant here. Situations we have no control over are obvious examples of times you shouldn't want things to be different because these desires cause unnecessary suffering. We often long for other things which are out of our reach even though they are not, at least at the present moment, within our control. These misplaced longings often result from confusion over how much control we have.6 No adult suffers over the fact that he cannot simply spread his arms and fly, as this is unambiguously out of reach.
