You are not alone in your inner struggles and external obstacles. So often we feel alone in our pain and in our problems. We feel as if everyone else is normal and thriving, and that we ourselves are the odd one out in our personal struggles, whatever they may be. This is false. Every single person on this Earth is struggling with something inside of themselves and in their lives. It’s important that we remind ourselves that we are not alone and that we are far more connected than we realize.
Every single person on this Earth is struggling against social conditioning. And a lot of the time, these struggles take place underneath the surface, below our conscious awareness, and to admit that yes, you too deal with this may require being incredibly honest with yourself.
Whether it be feelings of inadequacy, not feeling worthy of love, not feeling deserving of success, happiness, or a good life; whether it be insecurity, anxiety, fear of judgment and rejection; whether it be feeling angry at the world, feeling like everything is out to stifle you; whether it be feeling sad, depressed, or confused about your direction in life, regardless of what it is, we are all battling some sort of inner demon.
To many people it feels as if they are alone in that struggle. Very likely they have very few people, if any, who they can confide in and share these honest emotions with. The way our society currently runs, we are shamed for sharing these honest feelings.
“How are you doing?” “Fine.” “Good.” “Great.” We’re conditioned to give fake, superficial answers. That’s not to say that there aren’t times when we do feel great, but hardly anyone ever tells the uncomfortable truth. Do you ever hear people answer, “I kind of hate life right now. Existing is a struggle. I’m feeling pretty down.”? Hardly anyone ever gives those kind of truthful answers.
By holding these things in and not expressing them, we make ourselves feel isolated and alone in our problems. It makes us feel like there’s something wrong with us.
Another good example is suicidal thoughts. Not in the way that you’d actually kill yourself, but just thoughts that pass through your mind. On a weekly basis tons of people have random suicidal thoughts. When I’m stressed out and overwhelmed I will catch myself saying or thinking things like, “just kill me already,” and similar things. And in no way do I actually want that to happen, but it is something that tons of people experience. Instead we’re made to feel weird and messed up if we share the fact that these things pass through our mind on occasion, but the truth is most of us go through very similar experiences.
Every one of us has gone through traumatic experiences and painful life experiences. With social media showing glamorous lifestyles and only showing people being happy and successful we’re made to feel like we’re the only ones crawling through the mud. The truth is we’re all experiencing very similar things, we’ve all been through struggle.
Remember, the more personal the struggle, the more universal. We’re all far more similar and far more connected than mainstream media and modern society makes it seem. You are not alone.
