The Stoic philosopher understood something that modern marketing actively works to obscure: that dissatisfaction is manufactured, not inevitable. While most people read this as simple advice to want less, Epictetus was making a sharper claim—that contentment is primarily a matter of *perception and choice*, not circumstance. A person earning fifty thousand dollars with modest expectations experiences genuine wealth, while a millionaire tormented by comparison lives in poverty of spirit. Consider how someone who stops doom-scrolling through others' vacations and purchases often reports feeling genuinely richer within weeks, not because their bank account changed, but because their inner economy shifted.