Years ago, I had a friend who was notable for her kindness, her intelligence, and her beauty. She was also notable for her self-pity.
I suspect she got her chronic self-pity from the example and encouragement of her parents. Both of them struck me as whiners.
Whatever the case, she was a study in the intractability of self-pity, the destructiveness of self-pity, and the misery of self-pity. I came to feel profound concern for her well-being -- both her current well-being, and her future well-being.
When a mutual friend of ours hanged himself in his closet -- not because he faced overwhelming challenges, but because he pitied himself so much that the challenges he did face appeared to him overwhelming -- she at last seemed to get an inkling of what she was doing to herself. But I lost contact with her soon afterwards, when she moved to the Northwest. I've no idea today what became of her.
Self-pity is as tragic and consequential as being afflicted with a serious mental health issue.
You can survive nearly any non-lethal challenge in life and go on to eventual happiness, so long as you do not pity yourself.
I suspect she got her chronic self-pity from the example and encouragement of her parents. Both of them struck me as whiners.
Whatever the case, she was a study in the intractability of self-pity, the destructiveness of self-pity, and the misery of self-pity. I came to feel profound concern for her well-being -- both her current well-being, and her future well-being.
When a mutual friend of ours hanged himself in his closet -- not because he faced overwhelming challenges, but because he pitied himself so much that the challenges he did face appeared to him overwhelming -- she at last seemed to get an inkling of what she was doing to herself. But I lost contact with her soon afterwards, when she moved to the Northwest. I've no idea today what became of her.
Self-pity is as tragic and consequential as being afflicted with a serious mental health issue.
You can survive nearly any non-lethal challenge in life and go on to eventual happiness, so long as you do not pity yourself.