Hello. Do you ever think that everyone else is not that different from us? We always go on about how everyone else is happy and how they’ve got it figured out and why can’t we be like them. At least that was the topic of some of my posts. But do you ever think that no one really has it figured out? That they are just pretending to know what they are doing or that they are simply ignoring their own suffering. So much so that they even fooled themselves. Maybe everyone is really miserable, but we are the only ones that figured it out. The vocal minority. The only ones that can see how shitty it all is. I had a little freak out yesterday. It’s just a few words that always manage to set me off. Tried to convince myself to finally leap. Didn’t take. I have this stubborn philosophy of not doing it during those little awful moments. I always maintain that I want to do it when I’m calm and rational. That way I know that I made the decision and I wasn’t edged on by the spur of the moment. I just want to get to therapy and get my happy pills. Numb me up and forget about it all. Don’t have the guts for suicide so might as well take a different leap. Thanks for listening if you are.
2 comments
I agree that noone truly has it figured out. I believe humans are incapable of permanent happiness, and yes, some are better equipped to hide their suffering. Being alive and human IS to suffer. I believe most people on this site are above average intellectually and are in tune with the fact that society does not offer the key to happiness, creating confusion and pain that becomes so overwhelming death seems the only logical choice. “The only ones that can see how shitty it all is.” Yes. Yes.
I used to wonder about that myself. And, well, I think it’s true that none of them really have things figured out. But I’m pretty sure most of them are happy anyway. Maybe they still have a lot of negative things in their lives, and maybe the positive things in their lives aren’t all THAT great, but they’re still happy in the sense that the positives outweigh the negatives.
Several lines of evidence: First, most of them don’t start wailing about their misery even when dead drunk. (Some of them most certainly do, but they seem to be a minority.) Second, most of them seem more cheerful than depressed even when making anonymous online posts. Thirdly, I’ve taken all sorts of “happiness inventory” tests at the Authentic Happiness website, and I consistently get results somewhere around the 5th percentile. That is, 95% of respondents seem to be happier than me. And they can take the tests anonymously, so they don’t have too much reason to lie.
People are different from each other. They’re physically, mentally, and emotionally different. Their experiences are extremely diverse, and it shouldn’t be surprising that some of them are much happier than others. Those of us here on this website just happen to be down at the lower tail of the bell curve.
Of course, even if only 5% of the population is as unhappy as most of us here are, that still adds up to millions of people. There’s plenty of misery to go around.