Putting things into perspective

[Angel]

This site is the first support online forum I’ve ever signed up for, and I found it tremendously helpful. Some of the posts here are pretty heartbreaking though, with phrases along the lines of “I have never been so depressed”. It’s understandable to be devastated to begin with, being unsure about your dating future, the medical implications and so on. I can totally relate, because I have never felt so lost before.

 

A friend of mine lost his wife to cancer (melanoma). Recently he posted about a young man who had started treatment at the same time as his wife, but ultimately passed away of this disease as well. He linked his post to the support site of the Melanoma Research Foundation, where the wife of the deceased young man described their last moments together. That made me surf that site a little more, and I found it amazing that so many phrases and questions closely resemble those of our herpes forum, with people being uncertain about their diagnosis, feel like their doctors cannot answer their questions, ask others for morale support and help… Except that their problems are about LIFE and DEATH, and not about an annoyance!!!

 

It made me realize to see things in perspective. I am lucky, and there are people out there with much bigger problems. Just sayin’.

 

[mr_hopp]

Yes! Totally! Here's a discussion posted in December around this exact topic!

http://herpeslife.com/herpes-forum/discussion/422/putting-herpes-into-perspective-/p1

 

Also, what's important is to realize that even though comparing ourselves to others might make us feel better about our specific situation, that same mechanism of comparison can also find examples that show us how much our lives suck. It's a sneaky thing. I say let's live our unique lives without comparison and practice gratitude for what we do have. (If you figure out how to do this 100%, let me know. I'm definitely working on this myself.) ;) Much love!

[Angel]

Hitting the nail on the head, as usual, Mr. H Opp ;) Will let you know how my search for happiness goes and hopefully we can learn from each other! xoxo