I got quite heavily into Stoicism after doing CBT and still enjoy reading about it. I do think it's quite misunderstood. It's a lot like Taoism or Buddhism in that it doesn't tell you not to have emotions or not to have an ego, just not to cling to those things, not to define yourself by them but instead to take a perspective of non attachment.

Moving towards less attachment and reduced ego inevitably eases suffering. But I think the Stoics accepted that nobody was perfect so it was very much about improvement rather than perfection. Only the sage is perfectly virtuous and he or she may not exist beyond a mythical ideal.

But you still get to have pleasurable emotions - you just enjoy them a lot more when they're happening. Instead of clinging on to them fearing they will end or trying to will them into being fearing they will never happen. Its about letting go of external events that we have no control over.

As I understand it, Stoicism isn't about emotional control, it's about living in harmony with nature. That can look like control to an outsider but the crucial thing is what's behind it.

A moralist is like a machine, they are conditioned by social norms and may not even understand what lies behind the morals they follow and get angry about.

A Stoic however is more focused on their own attitude to life and freely choosing it. In the end the only freedom we have is the attitude to what we do and think so we need to be aware of the decisions we make and why we make them to live a life in harmony with nature. Otherwise we are essentially living someone else's life. And that leads to profound unhappiness and unfulfillment.

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. ~ Marcus Aurelius