Caving to the pressure of daily life stresses

Even a perfectly balanced stool can only take so much stress before it snaps and collapses.

People get depressed over the smallest things
Heck I do but I mentally try to work through it

One of my problems is I think too much. The best coping skills I've learned are going for walks, making sure I've eaten recently enough and when all else fails, sleeping it off. A good old fashioned mental reset works wonders.

Or trying to reflect on the issue that is causing the depression

Usually the answers are the opposite of the reasons of

Then again you could overthink it and make it worse

This is excellent advice when I'm still thinking clearly. At a certain point my thinking becomes so distorted that reasoning my way out of it is like trying to walk off a broken leg.

I've learned to recognize when it's best to tune out my thoughts. For example, the first place my mind goes when I read "Usually the answers are the opposite of the reasons of" is "the reason I'm depressed is because I'm alive, so the solution is to not be alive". That response isn't constructive so I brush it aside, but even on a good day nothing I try to replace it with will stick. On a bad day I can't even think of anything to replace it with.

If it wasn't for the constant support of friends and family I would have left the party ages ago. Now thanks to those rotten f**kers I'm standing around looking at my watch every 15min waiting for last call. 😖🤬

Life is a party your parents drag you to and ditch you at. Eh, I suppose they didn't have it any better.

There's a LOT more depressing things than being alive.
And to look for the 'solution' for any problem as something that must be an opposite and the only alternative is being a tad overly myopic.

Who says there's a solution? Why should there be? Is there a limo ride to a mansion in store for a subsistence farmer in Somalia waiting for rain during drought, looking 72 at the age of 35, jutting ribs and 3 teeth? Will he and his family survive the next rebellion rolling though seeking to rob what little grain they have stored and taking his daughters while they're at it and chopping off his wife's arms for not being quick enough filling their bags?

Life sucks, and that's a good thing, because no matter how good we have it, we'll always find problems, even create them. Or need I name the yugest victim on Earth, who only wanted to add another chapter to The Art of the Deal being persecuted because he only wanted to be king, like we all want to be?

Instead of focusing on the ever elusive bit we can't quite ever reach, look at what you have to work with, and be thankful that you still can. Most people on Earth don't have any option other than struggle to persist to tomorrow.

There's a passage in Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search For Meaning “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” One of my most cathartic moments came from the realization that life isn't complete without a purpose--something to believe in and aspire towards. I believe that my purpose is to die, and my aspiration is that it ends up being from natural causes. The rest is just film reels of shitty reruns, but at least knowing that someday the credits will roll makes the process bearable.

Life isn't complete till your great grandkids have no idea who you are.
Did you know the president before Lincoln bought like 5 or 6 slaves over the years in order to free them upon purchase? Heck, even I can't remember his name.

Purpose? What purpose? There is no purpose. For what, so the shallow veneer of a facsimile of what we call an ego can seem just as special as the rest of the insignificant cogs? Ooooh, Mikey Henderson down the street won Used Car Salesman of the Year three years in a row and cousin Dwight served as Mayor of Cudchew, Arkansas for 2.5 terms before he got busted for getting the captain of his daughter's cheerleader squad pregnant! Color me impressed! (I was just talking just yesterday to someone about a cousin in PR who became a total snob - wouldn't even say hello to me and another cousin because..... he was a manager at KMart! I shit you not. Try using that title to hook up with someone at the bar on a Friday night.)

Remember when Kanye got praise for giving that unknown female singer a shot in a duet a few years ago? Um, Paula McCartney, yeah, that was her name!
Kids don't even know who the Beatles are anymore.

Purpose? Life is a chemical reaction. That's all. And that's A LOT. Be thankful. Caviar doesn't even get to hatch and live. Embrace your life because you have it, not for something that someday has got to happen on a day that isn't yet today.

There are eyes that cannot see
And fingers that cannot touch
That's the way of the world

There are dreams left empty and blank
And legs that have ceased to walk
That's the way of the world

There are kisses left undelivered
And sighs and moans unuttered
That's the way of the world

There are hearts no longer beating
And there's entrails still on the floor
That's the way of the world

That's the way of the world
That's the way of the world
That's the way of the world

- Flipper; Way of the World

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I too have sung 'Death's Praise'
But I'm not going to sing that song anymore
Yes, I've figured out what living is all about

It's life, life, life is the only thing worth living for
Yes life, life, life is the only thing worth living for
Yes life, life, life is the only thing worth living for
Life, life, life is the only thing worth

- Flipper; Life

Life sucks
And death is calling
Every day
I keep my chin up
But my spirit's falling
Every day
On and on and on and on
It goes
On and on and on and on
Last night
Won't see the morning
Every day
I see the sunset as an endless warning
Every day
On and on and on and on
It goes
On and on and on and on
Knife cuts
Through all that I wanted
Every day
It's like living in a
House that's haunted
Every day
On and on and on and on
It goes
On and on and on and on
...and all is well in our world

-Ministry; Worm

If the arc of life is only complete when the legacy of ones deeds falls into obscurity, I'm way ahead of the game. Not only have I done nothing worthwhile, I've made a point of being the first in an unbroken chain from myself to the last universal common ancestor who hasn't reproduced. I consider it an existential vote of no confidence.

I used to be a nihilist until I realized the gun fate had held to my head was only a prop. I've since realized my calling as an absurdist, authoring my own meaning like so many crappy memes. The best part is, the entire outside world is unnecessary to this exercise. And since I'm not particularly interested in competing with myself, there really is nothing to do but die. That's all any mortal is obligated to do. The aphorism about death and taxes is only half true--I know plenty of people who don't pay taxes.

As for gratitude, I've heard it's good advice. I nonetheless spit in its face. Maybe I'm wrong and if I sawed off one leg it would make me appreciate the one I still had, but I doubt it. That wasn't part of the contract. I'm obligated to be here, not to be thankful for it.

Funny how I used to think school never taught me anything useful, but I was wrong. It totally prepared me to accept the futility of my situation and sit patiently for the clock to run out.