Over the last year and a half, one of the biggest lessons I have learned is that other people have more difficult lives than mine. My problems seem big in what they are, but they're still not as bad as what a lot of other people go through. I am not even comparing my stuff to the starving kids in Africa.
Successful and healthy people get hit by biological disasters that literally wipe them off psychologically. People dealing with -not even life threatening- cancer, the emotional toll that it takes on your body, the toll it takes on your family, financial costs, the way your body changes permanently, is all rather minor stuff in the grand scheme of things. But even that is much bigger than anything I have ever experienced.
People live with painful memories of monstrous acts. They deal with actual repetitive physical abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse - where their entire lives' savings disappear into thin air. I have heard their stories. Most of them are regular people. A teacher getting date raped. A brilliant pre-med student brought to suicide by life's circumstances. A hard working, successful 50-something entrepreneurial woman brought to demise because of an abusive romantic relationship.
Often listening to the stories of these people and seeing them deal with life's difficulties gets me panicked. These people are not very different from me, and people I care about. I can clearly see how life can go so very wrong... many a times, through little fault of your own.
Realizing just how easy it is for life to go awry makes me want to do whatever I can to be their support, to help them find their way out of these cruel life situations. My heart aches when I think about it, so much that I want to hide from it all. I do want to not believe that life can get this difficult.
As much as it scares me, it also makes me feel extremely grateful for the problems that I do have. I would rather have my own worries than what a lot of other people go through. I would rather have my worries than not, because they tell me the direction my life is taking... and more often than not, my problems exist because I want a better life. I can not be grateful enough for my life and my problems. I am lucky that I have the problems I do.
I, of course, also realize that there are people who have easier lives than mine. And I also agonize over not having been aware enough, not having acted quickly enough, not having acted differently etc... But when the dust settles a little, I also try to learn from my mistakes.
Successful and healthy people get hit by biological disasters that literally wipe them off psychologically. People dealing with -not even life threatening- cancer, the emotional toll that it takes on your body, the toll it takes on your family, financial costs, the way your body changes permanently, is all rather minor stuff in the grand scheme of things. But even that is much bigger than anything I have ever experienced.
People live with painful memories of monstrous acts. They deal with actual repetitive physical abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse - where their entire lives' savings disappear into thin air. I have heard their stories. Most of them are regular people. A teacher getting date raped. A brilliant pre-med student brought to suicide by life's circumstances. A hard working, successful 50-something entrepreneurial woman brought to demise because of an abusive romantic relationship.
Often listening to the stories of these people and seeing them deal with life's difficulties gets me panicked. These people are not very different from me, and people I care about. I can clearly see how life can go so very wrong... many a times, through little fault of your own.
Realizing just how easy it is for life to go awry makes me want to do whatever I can to be their support, to help them find their way out of these cruel life situations. My heart aches when I think about it, so much that I want to hide from it all. I do want to not believe that life can get this difficult.
As much as it scares me, it also makes me feel extremely grateful for the problems that I do have. I would rather have my own worries than what a lot of other people go through. I would rather have my worries than not, because they tell me the direction my life is taking... and more often than not, my problems exist because I want a better life. I can not be grateful enough for my life and my problems. I am lucky that I have the problems I do.
I, of course, also realize that there are people who have easier lives than mine. And I also agonize over not having been aware enough, not having acted quickly enough, not having acted differently etc... But when the dust settles a little, I also try to learn from my mistakes.
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