Sometimes life can just be that dismal, with no positive end in sight. Cue the angst.
But in looking over some recent story assignments, I'm realizing that a lot of my apparent quibbles with life are more First World Angst and less Significant Problems of Survival. When you actually see the bigger picture, your own issues have a tendency to just... shrink.
Let's compare this to modern missionaries in foreign lands (I'll be getting to do a story on this topic soon). Did you know that it's still quite possible to get killed for hanging out with natives of one village to help build houses, and the villagers across the river don't like that? That's a big tougher than trying to decide whether to use the air-conditioned storage unit for possibly unnecessary stuffs, or the non-AC one "to save money."
On a similar vein, how about those kids in impoverished villages who you see in commercials and on billboards to help "the poor." Ok, the pathos aside, these people honestly have the odds against them. I might have to forgo that specialty cheese at the grocery store because I need to reserve my funds to repay college loans, but at least I have the ability to consider specialty cheese in the first place. Goodness, let's appreciate the fact that it was "average" for me to go to college at all.
Or, how about people with legitimate medical conditions? More often then not, people who are working their utmost to get beyond their medical situations are some of the most determined, happiest folks around. Pitying them is generally not accepted, because they don't pity themselves. And I stress out when I realize I am getting a blister on not one, but both of my feet.
Sometimes it helps to put other peoples' situations in perspective before you pull out the emo music and the hoodies and mourn the difficulties of your existence. So watch how much angst you throw out there each day.
Just saying.
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