It’s dark but I’m not really feeling bad about it. It’s just the truth.
There is no certainty of comfort in life. Yeah, sure, some people might have comfortable lives (and it’s not just an “impression”, some people actually have comfortable and positive lives), but some people have truly horrible lives. Nobody wants to suffer, but some people do, without getting out of their own problems. Life can be cruel and unfair. Some children get sick of a deadly disease (cancer, malaria etc.) and die before 10. Some people live their entire lives in a wheelchair without being able to walk since when they were born (or they get leg paralysis when they are children or teenagers etc. and from that moment they can’t walk). Some children work as slaves to produce carpets in some third world countries and definitely don’t have a happy childhood. Some people (especially in Islamic countries) get sentenced to death by the government because they are gays or apostates. Some teenagers are bullied harshly and they end their own lives. Some peope in very poor countries have no easy access to food or clean water. Their lives are as real as mine, yours and everyone else’s. Plenty of suffering in the world. So what… the world goes on as usual. It’s scary to think about. I, you or anyone else can live a horrible life and we would just be yet another one of those people with horrible lives. Not the first, not the last. Nothing new. I used to be really scared of this thought but not I’m starting to accept it in a kinda helpless and powerless attitude. There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s not that I’m happy about it, though. Life can be very harsh and cruel. Animal lives, too. The ones born and lived in the farms for their whole lives. Or the ones killed by natural predators while trying to escape. They suffered a lot. Yet the world goes on as usual. It’s scary. The Universe doesn’t owe us anything. Comfort is not a necessary outcome when you are born as a human (or another animal). Neither is a happy, satisfying live. We all wish happiness and comfort but it’s never a guarantee, ever since the day we were born. And bad things can happen at any moment. Anyone could live a very happy and satisfying life in their 20’s and 30’s and think that things will be perfect with a happy life. Then… suddenly… at age 41, cancer is diagnosed. “You have 6 months of life left”. All the hopes are gone. Life is like this. A cruel, harsh, cold, uncaring, unpredictable jerk.
It’s true. And for millennia, philosophers have tried to make sense of the harshness and cruelty of life. Especially Schopenhauer, which I find fascinating. I think we don’t exist for a reason. We just exist. But that doesn’t forbid from finding our own meaning in life, since it’s subjective. And that meaning we create can indeed make us feel happier and give us a sense of purpose. At least, during this limited time we are alive.
Life can be cruel, yes, but as humans we tend to exaggerate the pain of it. Some people live unhappy lives, it is true. But if life even with cancer and trauma and all that stuff wasn’t worth living, then the majority of us wouldn’t be so fine with living it in spite of those things.
We’ve evolved to mostly enjoy life and to also be very vocal about it when we don’t. Probably like all other animals have too.
Life can be cruel, yes, but as humans we tend to exaggerate the pain of it.
I think it’s often the case that it’s not that we exaggerate the pain in our lives. Psychological and physical pain can be really intense. But sometimes we exaggerate it a little bit when we talk to others, because perhaps we would like someone that listens to us and comforts us. Maybe sometimes our pain is not that extreme, but we make it sound a little bit worse so that some of the sweet-type of people we might meet will comfort us.
I think we do it to ourselves too. Not that people with severe illnesses aren’t truly suffering. But the intermittent suffering we all experience isn’t as bad as we think. We’re just hard-wired to think of it as impossible to endure.
So it’s not that we all suffer so much and yet keep on living. It’s that despite life overall being more enjoyable than not, we have distorted perceptions of how bad the bad things are.
So it’s not that we all suffer so much and yet keep on living. It’s that despite life overall being more enjoyable than not, we have distorted perceptions of how bad the bad things are.
Yep. It’s called “negativity bias”, and it’s something all humans experience. If your left arm is aching but your right arm is okay, you probably won’t think “I’m so grateful my right arm is okay!”, you would probably complain that your left arm hurts. Same thing for psychological states. Negative things are noticed far more quickly than positive things by the human brain, as a means for survival.
So really, I think the whole “life is suffering” cliché isn’t true at all. There is suffering and life isn’t fair but for the vast majority, life is the opposite of suffering. Because that’s how evolution made it. So beings would survive.
Enjoy life and scream at the top of your lungs when you don’t. That’s how all life manages to survive. Humans just internalize that screaming, like they internalize language into thought.
Enjoy life and scream at the top of your lungs when you don’t. That’s how all life manages to survive. Humans just internalize that screaming, like they internalize language into thought.
I agree. Maybe what I’m going to say is not very related but I have been thinking about something recently. Due to how my mind works, I experience weird stuff. Voices, hallucinations, I often feel watched by hypothetical people or even inanimate objects. Someties I feel uncomfortable touching the keys on my keyboard because I think they can feel my touch (this is really uncomfortable but I try to not think about it… because in my experience, thinking about it makes it more uncomfortable). I always feel some kind of conscious presence around me. Weird stuff. It often makes me feel uncomfortable and I sometimes feel like I might go insane from the discomfort. But then I think "is what I’m experiencing really any worse than someone who got diagnosed with cancer and only has few more months of life left? Is my life really any worse of a child infected with malaria? Or someone in a wheelchair that can’t walk? Or people with severe asthma that can barely breathe sometimes and feel suffocated? Or people in Islamic countries who are sentenced to death because they are gay? Or people in very poor countries who have no access to food or clean water and are starving to death? My life is definitely not easy but dude!!! Comparing the nightmare I’m experiencing to certain horrors other people are experiencing in the real world is like comparing Courage the Cowardly Dog to the movie The Exorcist " and I usually feel a little bit more relieved. It’s not always helpful, though. But it can help sometimes, and I’m glad.
I didn’t really find my psychotic symptoms very bothersome. Most of them were benign. But the cognitive and negative symptoms made my life not very much worth living. Maybe just barely. I did attempt suicide once but then I decided I could probably have some kind of life and it would probably be better than not living. Then I recovered (and I have to say life “without” sz is pretty decent, even with death and failures and all that).
Psychotic stuff can be very annoying and psychologically painful. Especially those days when it just won’t stop. But honestly? Depression is worse than that. I know I shouldn’t compare those things because it affects everyone differently and honestly it’s just not cool but… depression sucks. You can still feel in a good mood while hallucinating or feeling watched by benevolent spirits or “guardians” etc. in my experience, it’s not necessarily a bad entity that is watching you. I sometimes experience the opposite of “paranoia”. I sometimes feel watched and observed by benevolent entities that will protect me from harm. I’m not sure if anyone else here experiences the same thing sometimes. But yeah. It’s not necessarily a “healthy” good mood (though it can be). But it’s a good mood. With depression you just can’t do anything. Barely get out from bed, even.
I got so used to depression it didn’t really even bother me much in the end. Even when it was bad and I moved and talked very slow and slept forever. But then I couldn’t get anything done anyway because of negative symptoms so maybe it would feel worse if it impacted my functioning.
When I was depressed I couldn’t even play No Man’s Sky. It was horrible. Then when my depression was getting milder I could play about 20 minutes some days every month. Now since around May 2021 I’m feeling a lot better and I can play about a hour a day. But I won’t forget how I felt back then. Early 2018 was brutal.
I’m not sure about that. I used to sit on my bed pretty much all day, staring at the walls of my bedroom and daydreaming about how I would be happy in a different reality with “angels” that would love me and comfort me. I slept about 12 hours a day. I didn’t do much. I used to have a problem with mood swings, too. When I tried to “fight against my depression”, after a few days of struggle I felt euphoric and full of energy for a few days, but it didn’t feel good. Then I felt “depressed” again for a month or so. And it was a mood swing cycle I was struggling to get out. It was terrible. Now gladly it’s not that extreme anymore. I’m in an okay or even good mood most of the time in the last few months I think I’m improving, luckily. But it’s really difficult to find ways and attitudes to cope with this stuff. It’s not easy at all.
I won’t. I’m 24, I have never had a job and I still live with my parents. The future doesn’t look so bright but… life is unpredictable both in a good and a bad sense. I’m good at writing and I’m improving my drawing skills. I don’t think I could work in a bar or a restaurant or somewhere with lots of people and clients, because I would immediately feel overwhelmed and I mentally couldn’t handle that. My mind is not made for bar/restaurant type of jobs. BUT! I could make money by working on a novel or a comic or something like that. I’m very creative and I could make money from it! I could try. The future doesn’t look bright, but life is unpredictable, so it can be either dark, bright, or somewhere in between. It’s unknown
It’s true. Anything could happen to us at any time. Both good and bad. We have no control over what happens next. But it’s no good thinking about it. Better stay positive and hope for the best. I’ve got stuck in that something bad could happen any minute thinking a few times, and it is no way to live.
I’ve got stuck in that something bad could happen any minute thinking and it is no way to live.
TRUE!!! I have already thought about it before. I could get cancer any day of my life. I could get blind. Deaf. Leg paralysis. Poverty. Hell, I can even get covid since it’s realistic nowadays! It’s not necessarily deadly (though it can be) but it’s a scary possibility. Lots of things can happen. And I have already thought about it: if you worry about bad things that could happen all the time, you just won’t live. Life is dangerous, and we should accept it. It’s not the happiest thing to accept, but it’s just the truth. But it’s not something that should make us suffer. Life is filled with dangers and uncertaintities. It’s how life is. Imagine the opposite, knowing all the dangers and future outcomes! Wouldn’t life be boring? LOL. Dangers and uncertainties are an uncomfortable constant in life, but they shouldn’t prevent us from living. Otherwise nobody would be able to live their lives. Dangers are for everyone. Of course, there should be a limit to the dangers you expose yourself. Don’t walk near a cliff, don’t use heroin, don’t run in the middle of a trafficked highway etc. but for most normal life activities, just accept there is a certain amount of danger in anything you do (even drinking water! It’s very, very, very rare. But some people do choke to death while drinking water!), and live your life based on compromises. Don’t be too obsessed with safety at all costs, but don’t expose yourself to easily preventable dangers either. An in-between is a better idea. A balanced compromise.