Being thankful

[essayel]

I've had a fucking AWFUL morning and was going to come here and, probably, whine about it. Luckily I saw this just in time.

Puts it all into perspective.

Now it was still awful but at least I'm rich and fortunate and can retreat into fiction where I've got some bloody CONTROL over what happens.

Beer icon because I want some.

Comments

[britalone.livejournal.com]

That's a sobering message.

So, what happened then? Whinge away!!

[essayel.livejournal.com]

That's such an appropriate icon.

Let's just say that a kid who is taking A levels 35 miles away, who has refused to give a copy of exam time table to parent, should jolly well make SURE they have the right time for the exam so that they can get there on time without panic, hysteria, and assorted other angstiness.

I got her there in time to take it - just - but was waaaaay late for work. Boss is NOT amused at having to open the museum herself and man the desk all alone for 10 minutes. Her going off to an all afternoon meeting and leaving me on my own for 3 hours, is of course, completely different.

Piddling problem on a global scale - massive to my stressed out synapses.

[yakalskovich]

**hugs you**

[anghara13.livejournal.com]

*HUGS* that's a strong message, but hopefully today is improving as it goes along?

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I have high hopes now that my heart rate is back to normal.

I've been like this all day:

[casfic.livejournal.com]

*hugs you*

That is certainly sobering. And i can truly say that even though I'm not so cool on the health side at the moment, I'm still a hell of a lot better off than a lot of women in my position.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the hug and *hugs* back.

Yes, it's something to bear in mind, while acknowledging that what's staring you in the face can be bloody scary even with all those privileges. Being a hell of a lot better off than most is great but your problems are still your problems and there are times when you need a guilt free whinge to relieve your feelings and a good sound hug afterwards.

Chocolate helps too. Have a virtual strawberry.

[wulfila.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, poor you. That does not sound good.

I must admit that I am not a huge fan of such somewhat sanctimonious "putting suffering into perspective" texts. They seem to be tailored to "don't whine all day because the supermarket happened to be out of your favourite brand of coffee - your life is actually quite good" situations.

But from a certain point on, they become almost evil, because the underlying message seems to be that a certain amount of material privilege robs you of the right to suffer or to be unhappy, and that every such feeling is whining or overreacting per se. However, there are situations in which people are legitimately unhappy even if they are not starving, ill illiterates in a war zone, and denying those feelings does not really lead anywhere(except for making some preachy person feel smug that they managed to make others feel bad for not being cheerful).

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I think it was useful to bring me up short and make me look at the other side of the coin - things could have been so much worse.

But, yeah, sometimes things happen that you need to have a damn good guilt free bitch about. This wasn't one of those times for me. But there are times when whining is a perfectly valid response no matter what your health/finance/education situation is. Being allowed to grumble and beg for sympathy from ones flist is great for working off some of the feelings that aren't healthy to bottle up.

[metallumai.livejournal.com]

Teenagers should be outlawed. No question. The fact that they sometimes live to grow up is a testament to our absolute saintliness! You deserve a beer. XXXX

[essayel.livejournal.com]

**hugs** I will treat myself to one at some time in the future when I'm not likely to be called upon to dive out the door, car keys in hand, on a taxi run.

I hope you had a BRILLIANT birthday.