I’m having a pity party; care to join?
I think there’s value in feeling sorry for yourself.
Right now I’m feeling sorry for myself for a variety of things, which has placed me into a mindset where I want to do the following, in exactly this order:
- Crawl up in a ball with a blanket;
- Turn on the TV to some History/BIO/Science channel and focus on whatever special they’ve got.
I feel like a lot of bloggers spend a lot of their time advocating using every moment that you have to do something – start a business, find a job, change your life – but sitting on your duff and being depressed? There simply isn’t time! Turn that frown upside down! And so on. Simply put, the American lifestyle does not want to permit you to be sad.
People are like this partly for selfish reasons. Emotions are contagious, so if you’re unhappy, you’ll tend to make others unhappy when they’re around you. Hence, they want to make you happy so they can feel happy. Feeling sorry for yourself, though, to me is like grieving: it happens. It’s a natural part of life. You eventually move on and move forward. People pushing you to “get happy” need to “get fucked” because they’ve been in the same boat of self-pity before.
If you’re feeling sorry for yourself, wallow in it; it’ll get better. If you’ve got a friend or family member in the same condition, support them and help them work through it. There’s no harm in indulging in self-pity every once in a while.
