Friday, October 28, 2016
Personal Hell (H3)
In response to William James’ quote from his Principles of Psychology. It’s interesting how little we realize we put ourselves through our own personal hell. For instance, one of my friends recently went through a struggle with “depression”. I couldn’t figure out why they would be sad and depressed, since that person’s life was going pretty well at the time. And so one day I sat down and talked with them. Through that talk I came to realize that in fact, nothing really was wrong, except that they kept thinking about and overanalyzing how others perceive them. For some, realizing how much you care about others opinions and desiring to change that about yourself is a pretty easy fix, but this friend has been doing that their whole life. They have formed these reactions and habits of caring too much about others’ opinions instead of what they actually want. With this specific friend, it also might stem from their deep personal connection to their family. And so, because family means so much to my friend and my friend cares very much about their family’s opinions and has their whole life, it has shaped their thoughts and made getting through life much harder than it has to be in some aspects. All that to say that I have seen how true and applicable this quote is to our modern society. It’s strange how difficult your habits can make your life and truly sad that we are told too late about the consequences of forming bad habits.
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What was the quote?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree that it is sad that humans form these bad habits and often realize later rather than earlier in life that these habits are pointless. For example, I know MANY people that have low self esteem and constantly pull themselves up rather than looking at how great they are despite their weight or clothing or acne or hair or etc.. All anyone really aspires to be is happy and I think that begins with truly loving ourselves and others.
I agree with you. I see how people put themselves through their own hell because they care too much about what everyone around them thinks of them, including their own family.
ReplyDeleteJust remember that clinical depression is a mental illness which doesn't correlate with personal experience or feelings. It's a mental illness that can't always be controlled by meditating, self-evaluation, or engaging other activities. Sometimes, the person genuinely needs help. Even if no one else wants to realize it.
ReplyDeleteClinical Depression is not as easy to discern and fix as you make it seem. It is not a Personal Hell that is caused by the person alone. Often times it is caused by chemical imbalances which an individual has no direct control over.
ReplyDelete(H3) I can definitely attest to the fact that I make my life a lot harder than it needs to be. Putting extra stress and pressure on myself, when relaxing and just taking a breath could have resulted in the same outcome. I am not depressed, but I can definitely see how someone can become buried under the pressures they put on themselves.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with the comments on clinical depression being very well a real thing that truly needs more than self treatment, I think Lydia is trying to make a different point. I think the reason she put depression in quotations was to show the point that the person in her story is not actually suffering from depression, but more along the lines of just a general sadness at the moment. I am not trying to be a medical professional or anything here either. Anyways, I can agree wholeheartedly that sometimes we create our own personal hell. For example, I even do it sometimes with school and work. I will go to work and stress myself out about all of the homework I must do and how I could be doing this and this and this instead of being there when in reality I only have one or two things to do at a time. It is unfortunate how much this applies to other people as well and how we create these hells for ourselves.
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