I've been going through it as well. There are a few things that helped me so far.

1) There's a biological component where happiness follows a U curve. Mid 40's tends to bottom out on happiness then steadily increases. Useful to know since riding it out is a viable strategy. [1]

2) This translation [2] of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations is powerful as a daily reminder that no matter the year or station in life, the struggles are universal. Focusing on what's in your control and "knowing thyself" goes a long way towards fighting overwhelm.

3) Modern hypnotherapy is worth studying and possibly doing a session or two with a skilled practitioner. It's basically a shortcut for hacking into your subconscious and un-sticking negative loops without needing to spend years in therapy talking about the past. It's gained popularity in high performance communities, CEOs, athletes, etc. But important to know the more modern version is different than hypnotherapy from 10+ years ago. It's also not stage hypnotherapy. Much more like lucid dreaming where you're still completely aware. I particularly like Marisa Peer's Rapid Transformational Therapy. Her books [3] are worth reading. I can connect you with RTT practitioners or coaches if you're interested. I've worked with a few.

[1] (random link, but useful article) https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/scientists-just-discovered-mi...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Marcus-Au...

[3] https://www.amazon.com/Tell-Yourself-Better-Lie-Transformati...

I've always been curious why we translate old passages into "thou"s and "let not"s.

This might be why modern people feel so disconnected from past people, even though we're basically identical.

I connect a lot better with:

> "Forget the future. When and if it comes, you’ll have the same resources to draw on—the same logos"

(from Gregory Hayes translation, if I'm not mistaken)

https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Marcus-Au...

One of the great books I am currently reading is Meditations* by Marcus Aurelius. This book reminds me time and again not to worry about things that I don't control and only focus on things that I can. This book introduces Stoic philosophy and I am surprised it is not that popular among Tech community (rarely being mentioned in Best Books HN posts).

*There are many translations of this book and the one I feel is easy to read is the one by Gregory Hays: https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Marcus-Au...

1. http://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-A-Brief-History-Humankind/dp/0...

2. http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Marcus-Aur...

3. http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Youre-Joking-Mr-Feynman-ebook/d...

4. http://www.amazon.com/Book-Five-Rings-linked-TOC-ebook/dp/B0...

Thought so too, but found this: http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Marcus-Aur...

This has become my preferred translation. It's a great modern translation and uses very approachable language. To me it reads much more like a journal than the other available translations.

http://amzn.to/1xy6LYZ

I recently read the Gregory Hays translation [1] and thought it was great. Meditations was Marcus Aurelius's "notes to self" and the Hays edition captures this informal nature. It makes for an easy and delightful read.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Marcus-Aur...

Following Ryan Holiday's recommendation (http://www.ryanholiday.net/reading-list/), I highly, highly advise you to go with the Gregory Hays' translation (http://amzn.to/XQSimT)!

I have a copy of Long's and it doesn't do it justice.

If you want to dive deeper consider Pierre Hadot's 'The Inner Citadel: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius" - http://amzn.to/YuWyvh

I am also fond of these YouTube lectures on the Meditations: http://youtu.be/nLD09Qa3kMk