How did Stoicism change my life?

Stoicism is a philosophy regarding the interpretation of daily events happening around us. So what does it exactly advocate? As far as i understood, it is basically asking yourself following simple question:

Was I capable of changing or hindering whatsoever caused that event to happen?

Question is simple. Is preventing the event that affects your live negatively in your capacity?

If no, then don’t bother.

Let’s talk about the famous example regarding rain. You want to go outside and as soon as you step outside, it starts to rain. Question is whether you would still go outside or give up and return home. According to stoic thinking, you are not able to change, hinder or postpone rain so you should continue your life as it is planned and raining should not affect your decisions or actions.

Rain example can be controversial depending on your reason for going outside. If you have a meeting that you must attend, you have to leave home whatsoever. But I believe it is still good example to show you the stoic notion of the relationship between your capability and decision making. But I have a better example than this from my own life.

How did Stoicism make my life better?

When i was doing my military service for one year in Turkish Army, I had to shave every day, which is something i hate. I use to get up early and shave for 365 days. I was cursing and swearing about rule pertaining to shaving every day. I was getting depressed day by day. One day when i was reading a philosophy book, i learnt about Stoicism and i asked the question that if i am able to change the rule forcing me to shave every day? Am i a general? Am i the Chief of Staff in Turkish Army? Am i a Turkish legislator. I was none of those. Therefore; i started not contemplating about shaving and focused on the things that i can change in my life. Starting from that day, my mood during the rest of the military service was better. It affected my psychology in positive ways.