Posted by SLS on February 14, 2013, at 13:48:02
In reply to Re: resiliency and optimism » Dinah, posted by hyperfocus on February 14, 2013, at 13:05:17
> I see a lot of people everyday who I know are mentally weak and selfish and nihilistic and will crack at the slightest hint that life isn't what they thought it was. From what you write about here I never considered you in that category.
How do you know that the people you categorize as being weak aren't actually quite strong? You don't know what they have been confronted with in life. Every man has his breaking point - even the "strong" ones. I am weak for waging an intense war against depression that has lasted for over 35 years. Who would know this unless I were to tell them? Even the strongest of people can be laid waste instantaneously by an acute episode of mental illness.
I'm sorry to be confrontational, but I don't think categorizing people as being either weak or strong is very productive. To me, this seems to be judgmental and wholly unfair.
I imagine I was born to be just as resilient as the infant laying next to me in the hospital. My mental illness has defeated me - not because it persists, but because I could not maintain the fierceness I once had, as I am now weary from waging the war necessary to survive. It has taken me awhile to recognize that my current uncharacteristic lack of motivation to engage in life is the manifestation of defeat. I have been weakened and no longer wish to push.
I am only now beginning to recover from defeat, thanks to the improvement in my condition afforded by biological treatment. It will be awhile before my core personality and fierceness regrow and become resources for resilience once more. I am fortunate that my metaprogramming remains largely intact so that I can teach myself how to function in society and once again self-actualize. It will be a slow process.
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1038000
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130205/msgs/1038075.html