You always have choices.
podium and a prison is each a place, one high and the other low, but in either place, your freedom of choice can be maintained if you so wish."
-EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.6.25
All the great stoic philosophers of the past lived vastly different lives under vastly different circumstances. Zeno was a merchant sailor who was shipwrecked in a foreign city, Musonius was a political exile on a barren island, Seneca was a teacher to a murderous Emperor who didn't appreciate his teachings, Marcus Aurelius was himself a Roman Emperor, and Epictitus was a crippled slave.
One thing they all had in common was the belief that the only thing within their control was their day to day choices. Out of any of those names I mentioned one would think that Epictetus more than most would have disagreed with that statement.
Epictitus was born a slave and died an exile. He had a crippling leg injury from childhood that was thought to have been inflicted by a slaver. Even his true name is unknown. Epictutus in Greek means "gained" or "acquired" deignating him as property.
As a slave, he lived a life devoid of choice. Yet he did not see it that way. Instead, he saw his apparent limits as the freedom to concentrate on his inner self. When at one point he gained favor with his master he chose to use that favor to study more philosophy and devote more time to that inner self.
In Epictutus's mind, his circumstances were no different than that of Marcus Aurelius. They were both slaves to the duties associated with their station. For the two of them, the only freedom they had was the same. Their freedom of choice, the choice in how they saw things and react to them.
To this day that is still the only true freedom we have, no matter what your station is. Focus on what is in our control as opposed to what is not. Things may be tough now, but tomorrow they may be great. Today we may feel like everything is taken from us, but tomorrow the world might be our oyster. The one thing that never changes is our freedom of choice. Understanding this gives us clarity.
Whoever we are, wherever we are-what matters is our choices. Who do we want to be? What are our options? Where will this choice put us? How will we react and will it help? Those are the questions, those are our choices. How will you answer? How will you choose?
-Jason Brown
