Life just sucks sometimes.

Thank you so much, for sharing this article! This is so totally life affirming. It is good to know that independent thought, is still very widespread!

I really believe that "A sucky life" should be a NANDA approved diagnosis.

Thanks for a great article.

Thank you for sharing. I am going to be the lone voice of opposition here. I want to agree with you that yes, perhaps a person is sad because their life sucks. There are a lot of people out there who's life sucks. In fact, I bet most peoples life sucks unless you're born with a silver spoon in your mouth, which most people are not. However, most people are not depressed. A contemporary of your grandmothers and a woman's libber beyond her years was forcibly labotomized for her radical thoughts and beliefs. She lived out her life as a compliant little housewife.
You grandmother was the child of immigrants. Romantic love is a concept mostly foreign to those outside the united states. Marriage was an institution of stability and procreation and you hopefully would grow to like, respect and even love your spouse. It was a pragmatic institution. In the minds of many of her contemporaries, your grandmother was crazy as she was balking at an established reality and placing herself at great risk socially and economically. As such, she was perceived as placing herself deliberately in harms way. The very criteria now used to forcibly commit someone. Isn't it fascinating how so much "science" in our society is relative. Had she done what she did in the 70's, she would have been heralded as an icon of women's liberation. (The same liberation that is connected with a 74% divorce rate, dysfuntional families and children, forced two income families due to inflation adjustments from two income earners, now we all must be, etc.). Life is what you make it, no matter how "sucky" your situation. Ultimately, I CHOOSE to be happy or not. I know some of the poorest people who are the happiest and some very wealthy miserable people. We live for the sake of each other and only when we focus on ourselves and what we want, at the expense of those around us, does life begin to appear "sucky". The rugged individualism of America has yielded the fruits of alienation, social disaccord, and loss of reality testing for many. That's the truth, and yeah, it sucks.

Jon

After 59+ years of ups and downs, I have to say that I agree with this idea. A lot of times my unhappiness came from poor choices, or not wanting to hurt others' feelings/make others unhappy. (as if my feelings didn't matter?!?!?) Now I know that I was just being abusive to myself, in a strong sense of the word! For me, now, life is about making the changes it takes to take care of me. If I make an unfortunate choice, I change it. If the new job I take sucks....I look for another one. No....there is no perfect job! But there sure are some that are not as bad as others! There is no perfect person....but there sure are some that are not as bad as others! And so it goes! Live may not be a bowl of cherries, but even the pits are useful....to make other cherries!

Well said!

I suffer from major depression with cyclothymia. I take medications and would be totally disfunctional without them. My illness is very severe. I can't even miss a day of medication without having ill effects. I have tried being off my medication once and I went down hill very fast. Could not get out of bed, very anxious, sad, angry. It was horrible. I know that I will have to be on medication for the rest of my life and I feel OK about it. Diane

I loved reading your uplifting story!!
What a brave and very wise grandmother you were blessed to have in your life.

I appreciate that the OP's message was that many people want a quick fix to feel better. I don't think this was meant to include people with major depression. That would make us sound silly. Thanks again for the original message.

........

You said it. I kind of got the hint of resentment toward the field of psychiatry and those who have been diagnosed as mentally ill. Mental illness is real. Naturally, there are plenty who try to play the mental illness card
to their full advantage, but if a person ever had to deal with real depression/mental sickness and saw what life is like without their "pill" they would get off their high horses and shut their mouths pretty quick. My mother once said people have to take "pills" because they can't deal with life the way other people have to. She is one who should heed her own advice (though she only meant it in the most condescending way toward people who seek treatment for depression). My mother is one of the most miserable, depressed people I know and she refuses to take medication for it.

Anyway, I think the attitude of this post is what makes someone with mental sickness feel defeated before they even think about getting help. Yes, life sucks. Whether it sucks because of your brain or life sucks just so bad it is getting you down, you shouldn't forego that "pill." The more I think about the original post the more annoyed I get. I know it is meant to attempt to bring "common sense" to the situation and try to show there is mass hysteria and everyone thinks life should always be rosy and if it isn't they go get pills, and I always hated it when people patronize other people and assume they don't have enough sense to realize that. Like I said, if they really had to deal with what the other person who takes "pills" deals with they would shut up.

And just because granny says it doesn't make it chock full of wisdom. I'm sure mental institutions were no vacation resort, but it was the best they had at the time. I can't imagine it would have been better to put these people on the streets where they may have fared much worse.

For that matter, I would surely appreciate being matched with a nice man who would take care of me. Anyone in my situation would.