I truly wish to know just how many people are depressed / unhappy with life / have no zest for life / have long-lasting childhood issues / have serious relationship issues / have horrible family / unhappy at job, lack money, have serious health issues / have no purpose / etc.
Like how many people are truly unhappy with life?
vs. how many ppl are actually happy or satisfied with life?
Basically, how fucked up are we? How many ppl are putting up a happy/everything is great front vs how many are fucked up just like us?
I mean, I guess everything is on a spectrum. I suppose most ppl are “happy enough” with life and do have a “good enough” life. I mean, I do know most of my former friends/ppl I know had good families, good friends, good enough careers, good health, good enough relationships. I mean I do know ppl who ARE actually very happy with their spouses and are doing pretty well in life. And yes, most of those ppl were born into middle or upper middle class families with little drama or family issues t begin with. You know, the old “if you have shit parents and a shit childhood, you’re pretty much screwed for life” deal. The ones that had good families and good childhoods grow up to be pretty happy and stable human beings.
Maybe the ppl who are depressed/suicidal and unhappy with life like us on SP are only 10-33%. Who knows what the true #s are. It’s tempting to say most are unhappy with life, but I do know (or used to know) a LOT of ppl who are pretty happy with their lives. Most of my peers from university are living pretty happy, or happy enough lives. Great or good careers, make great or good money, have found partners they either love or “good enough” partners. Most aren’t miserable like us here.
IDK, I suppose if more ppl were also fucked up and miserable, I’d feel less of a failure. But at least HALF of all ppl (not counting the ppl putting up a front) actually ARE living a satisfied enough/happy enough life. Almost ALL of my peers/friends from university are making 100K+. A good portion make 200K+, and some 300K. With the avg being 150-250K. Almost all of them.
Yes, I know money isn’t a litmus test. But I used to be very intelligent and very high achieving, and my peers were also that- we were the top of the top academically- and the majority of them are living pretty great lives. Not all, but most. Many of them are VPs/Directors/DRs/etc now. They’re in high-level positions, make great money, great careers. Most of them have done VERY well for themselves. And I would have too had I not had 2 car accidents, gotten very sick, and then fallen prey to narcissists/users/manipulators who shattered my mind and my life.
It’s be one thing if I was not intelligent and didn’t have any potential, and had never achieved anything. But prior to my car accident and decline in health, I had excelled academically, started college at 15, was very intelligent, graduated and worked for a VERY prestigious organization, managed to excel physically and was ex-military despite being the tiniest person, was also a model as I was born very pretty. I HAD potential. I WAS in the process of making a life for myself. And then I was in a car accident (no I did not hit anyone, it was a rare, once-in-50-years-type of blizzard that messed up the roads and my car was a regular car that could not handle rugged terrain/weather. It was worse than the blizzards we had a few months ago, that’s how bad it was).
I feel like once you slip down a few steps, life has a way of careening you down the entire flight of stairs, down to the depths of hell.
It’s like a ball sliding down a slide- gravity and momentum just keep bringing it down. That’s what happened in my life. It’s SO easy for bad shit to happen, and then it attracts more bad shit, and then you are pushed so deep into the depths of hell that you can’t make it back out. Whether it’s financially, mentally, or physically.
After I fell into the abyss, I met ppl who have never achieved anything great- ie they barely graduated college, worked low level jobs like retail or call centers or admins, etc, people who we wouldn’t call very successful. But these ppl are happy to just watch Netflix or IG, or go shopping, or whatevers. Like they NEVER question the meaning of life, existence, etc. They are so much more satisfied by life and aren’t bothered by the things that I am bothered by (lack of achievement and success, etc).
Well, does knowing just how many ppl who are actually unhappy help? At best, it’s half the population. At worst, 75% are satisfied/happy enough with life/doing good enough. I’m still at the bottom 1-10% of ppl when it comes to life. I’m not even in the middle 50% when it comes to happiness/health/mental health/finances/etc. -_-
I suppose I lament what I COULD have been. I WAS in the process of creating a good life for myself, managed to dig myself out of poverty and gotten on those steps….only to get sick and slide ALLLL the way fucking down to the depths of hell.
I know this is a long ass post. Thanks for reading if you’ve got to the end. O_o