Is it ok to be selfish and upset every once in a while?

I've been venting my frustration a lot to select people, and very much on EC. It does cross my mind that I'm being a little selfish, and it does make me feel slightly ashamed, but I need to let it all out. It makes me feel better, and if I kept it all to myself, my negative feelings would manifest themselves in other ways. So go ahead and vent, be selfish, it's your right as a human being. Just find the right people to vent to first, because if you talk to the wrong person, they'll only return your negative feelings with added weight.

 

Life is about problems and overcoming said problems. If everyone just sat there and held their pain inside all the time, then nothing would get done because everyone would be a complacent blob. It's getting angry and upset over the things that we don't like that allows us to change our destiny. Not saying that everything that happens should be treated as a tragedy, but I hate that we brush off people that need our help all the time because "they could be doing worse". That's like not treating a broken toe because someone else broke their leg. One takes precedence of course, but they other problem should still be treated and taken seriously.

Honestly, I find the people who say that depression is selfish, selfish. They are the people who can't even take the time to offer basic empathy to another human being. That's selfish.

 

Hi, yeah, I agree with Abbra here. Life is hard and we all suffer whether its "first world problems" or not. All we can really hope for is to help each other through as best we can. I have suffered with depression and in my experience not being able to talk to the people around me and being told that I'm selfish etc only makes things so much worse. The truth is that no one is depressed for no reason. Is there any way that you could perhaps start to talk to someone who might be a bit more sympathetic? Perhaps a good counsellor or psychotherapist?

 

I would say it's definitely a good idea to find a way to vent it out. You don't want it all to clog up inside you and you'll feel better when you do. Talk to someone you know like a friend or a family member, or someone professional like a counsellor. Also, don't convince yourself to be happy because other people are worse off. This is called the "appeal to emotion" logical fallacy and it's very much overused, if anybody tries to tell you to stop feeling sorry for yourself and they use that excuse, it's because they don't have any other argument to bring up.

 

There is no doubt that it is fine for you to vent. Its easy to say but bottling it up will not help. Depression is an illness remember. You should not feel bad about yourself for wanting to talk to someone about your problem. I know what you mean that it always seems to be you that does the listening, but when you want to talk people aren't interested. That's what is selfish...not you...the people that dont listen back. Its hard to talk, I find it very hard, but know that just letting the problem out helps. Its so cliche but a problem shared really is a problem halved. Try and seek help for depression if you feel you have it. Wish you all the best.