Okay i think i am able to understand it somewhat, what i see now is we can somewhat worry about the "what if's" of future but to worry about the "what if's" of past has no point as we can't control it and can't be changed.

And thanks for the time to explain it to my dummy dumb brain

I agree with what you're saying but the thing that bothers me is that stoicism is hard to practice correct me if i am wrong how i understand stoicism is we should not care and worry about the things which we can't control but how do we distinguish the things that we can control or not . What if i start not caring for things that matter.

Help me understand how being contentful can bring you peace in life.

For me being contentful now and not regretting any decisions in future is a paradox.

A newbie to stoicism and i can't wrap my head around the idea that materialistic desire are vise and you can't live a happy satisfied life. If any desire you have are vices than isn't desire of peace a vice too? Even if i am satisfied now but what guarantee can be there that it won't bringe me more pain in future. One example i can think of is being contentful of my financial situation now and a decade later regretting that when i don't have the money for my liver transplant that just failed.

And another question i have is shouldn't the purpose of life be just wanting peace why does it matter if it is achieved through materialistic means or you just leaving everything and staying in the woods. For example if a person finds peace travelling won't he/she use materialistic means to get peace.?.

I know i am all over the place but it's new for me so can't collect my thoughts properly :')