> Instead of consuming other peoples interpretation of stoicism I decided to go as close to the source as feasible for me.

Good for you! Everybody has their own "twist" on Stoicism, and that's fine. You have to find your own twist on it; you have to make it your own.

In my own experience, what is most rewarding and promotes my progress the most, is when I put philosophy into action. Then I get authentic feedback from life about what actually works. It helps me separate mere opinions and good sounding ideas from true insight.

I think you hit the nail on the head here and something else I seem to struggle a bit with. I am very good at reading, thinking, contemplating. But I need to get more out of my head - from lack of better wording. I actually wrote "read less - do more". In my notebook recently. So I could not agree more with what you are saying.