I understand the whole be happy your alive and the it could be worse stuff, but I am so sick of my life. I have always worked hard, but I am never respected in my field. I am broke all the time. I do not have a family and the friends I have I don’t like to hang out with them because I’m always so miserable compared to them. I just spent all my money and worked hard to make a career change that I thought would make me happy and give me more time to work on my painting career. I am now broke, can’t afford to live in my apartment (I am going to live out of my car starting next month). Nothing I do makes me happy anymore. Art used to always make me happy, but I am so upset I can’t afford to do it any more I feel sick thinking about it. I really don’t want to live without having a family. Nothing I do anymore matters. I do not qualify for any help programs because of my previous job, but all the money I made from that went into changing my career and I have nothing now. I got my new credentials to do the new job, but I’m completely broke. I really don’t want to live a life of being broke all the time. It is so stressful to worry and I am not a person that can handle it. The constant phone calls from collects, losing my apartment, scared to buy food every meal. I have been disappointed with my life for the past 19 years. Everything I try at, I lose or fail. I keep trying to continue on, but I don’t want this to be it. I’m getting too old to be know where and failing this badly. I so tried of feeling like trash everyday, I just want to know how to deal with living a life you don’t want and how to find happiness when there is nothing in your life to be happy about. (From the USA)
What comes through your email loud and clear is that you have one of the most important character traits a human being can own: grit. Almost every sentence identifies you as persistent and resilient. No form of success is a straight line. Here is a brief video on some famous failures that show how important it is to honor your capacity to try again and again: https://youtu.be/zLYECIjmnQs. As Muhammad Ali has said: “Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.”
I wouldn’t pretend to know exactly what you will need to do to feel better — but I know there is something inside of you that will keep pushing for it. Even your email to us is a sign that you may not know how, but you are willing to look for answers. From everything I’ve learned about happiness and success– that is the essential ingredient.
Wishing you patience and peace,
Dr. Dan
