Tuesday, January 6, 2026
The car broke down today. Just completely died in the parking lot at work. I turned the key and nothing happened. After getting it towed, the mechanic called and said it's the transmission. Minimum $2,800. Maximum... he didn't want to tell me the maximum.
I don't have $2,800. I have about $1,200 in my emergency fund and a credit card that I've been trying really hard not to use. This is the kind of expense that derails everything - the carefully balanced budget, the debt payoff plan, the tiny sense of control I'd built around my finances. All of it, gone, because of a mechanical failure I couldn't predict or prevent.
I know what this app is going to tell me. "Money is an external, you can't control it, focus on your response." And I hear that, I do. But it's easy to be philosophical when you're not staring at a bill you can't pay. The stress is physical - my jaw is clenched so tight I'm giving myself a headache. I can feel it in my shoulders, in my stomach.
I've been doing the math for hours. If I put $800 on the card and use my emergency fund for the rest, I can probably pay it off in six months. But then I have no safety net. If something else breaks - the fridge, my laptop, anything - I'm completely exposed. And the holidays already drained me. I shouldn't have bought those gifts. I shouldn't have said yes to that dinner. I shouldn't have...
The "should haves" aren't helping. I know they aren't helping. But they keep coming anyway.
Stoic AF Response
Generated at 7:18 PM
"It is not the man who has too little that is poor, but the one who craves more."
Okay, I'm not going to pretend $2,800 is nothing. It's not nothing. It's a real problem that requires real solutions, and no amount of philosophical reframing changes the fact that you need to fix your car. The Stoics weren't naive - they dealt with exile, illness, and death. They understood that life hits hard. The question is what you do with your mind while you handle it.
Let's separate the problem from the suffering. The problem: you need money you don't have. That's solvable. Credit card, payment plan, maybe a side gig for a few weeks, maybe borrowing from family if that's an option. The suffering: the jaw clenching, the "should haves," the catastrophizing about what else might break. That part? That's optional. Not easy to stop, but optional.
You said you know what I'm going to tell you about control. So let me tell you something different: you've already survived 100% of your worst days. Every financial crisis, every unexpected bill, every moment you thought you couldn't handle - you're still here. That's not luck. That's evidence. Evidence that you can handle more than your anxiety wants you to believe.
Make a list of three actual options for handling this expense. Not perfect options - just possible ones. Then, close the math loop for tonight. The numbers will be the same tomorrow, but you'll face them rested instead of exhausted.