There is a concept in software engineering called chaos engineering. The idea is that you intentionally insert failures into your system to see how it responds. Rather than hoping that everything will go according to plan, you pressure-test the system and identify where it lacks robustness. In safety critical systems, the same principle applies: you intentionally induce failures, observe the reaction of the system and use this to convince certifiers that you have a failsafe for each of the risks in the system. In my view, this concept applies to life in general. We tend to assume that life will give us what we expect and that tomorrow will be like it was today. The consequence is that we tend to become very upset when it doesn’t go as expected. Our car breaks down. Our gym card stopped working and there is no staff. There is an unexpected traffic jam, causing us to miss an appointment. Rather than intentionally inserting failures into our lives, though, the Stoics have a technique called Premeditatio Malorum: you visualize the worst thing or things that could happen in your life and you reason your way through your response to it. Most likely it won’t happen, which you can then be grateful for (a very positive exercise right there). And if it happens, at least you’re ready to deal with what life throws at you. Maybe bring some chaos engineering into your life?