Misery loves company

Misery visits all of us in our own time. Lets face it, happiness and fulfillment are impossible to feel 100% of the time. Such despondency can actually be fought off though. Mainly misery can be avoided by always finding something to accomplish or learn. It could be fought off by reading a new book, or cooking a new recipe, or spending time with a pet. Those always work for me. People only feel miserable because they allow themselves to.

It is said that misery loves company. I'm of the belief that this phrase was coined by those miserable people who spent as much time around others as they could, so they could spread to others the despair that they, themselves, felt. That being said one must always make an effort to avoid those afflicted with misery. You let a miserable friend in to comfort them and by the time they leave they'll have you contemplating a suicide pact. I know, I make it sound like a disease, right? Well it is. Misery is an emotional disease. Misery is an emotional black hole which sucks in productivity, strength and joy and spits out dependency, weakness and any negative emotion you'd rather not be feeling.

And believe it or not, the miserable are not to be blamed for this. They're just carriers. Plague dogs infected at the source. There isn't only one source of this epidemic either, that's why it's so scary. It can come from the media in the form of standards of beauty that are impossible to live up to. It can come from performance at work that remains un-recognized. The reasons are varied. The cure can be even more so.

Misery is an emotional disease, as I've already established. So the only way to get rid of it is an emotional cure. I mentioned learning something new. I also mentioned spending time with a beloved pet (not necessarily a non-human one). Nearly anything that can remind you of your self-worth can blow away the blues (not the music). However, it must remain said that no one can do this for you. If you weren't aware of that self-worth before, it's going to be even more difficult finding a reason to feel good about yourself and your life. These are primarily the people who end up losing all hope and looping a rope around their neck.

So keep in mind, that misery comes to us all. But only the strong brush it off like an annoying case of the common cold. The weak will carry it with them everywhere and spread it around just to validate their own feelings of worthlessness and try to make others feel as bad (or worse than) themselves. The weak despair of even making something of themselves or solving their problems. The strong will never question the purpose of their lives. The weak will question whether there even is a purpose. Just remember, everyone's life has problems, but all problems are fixable.