I used to have a lot more anxiety. Go figure, I was most worried about what was going to happen next when I had stable employment and a place of my own. I would be sterilizing a room and just start having a borderline existential crisis, and it always seemed to sneak up on me.

Everything would start hitting me at once, “I have no idea what to do with my future. I keep lying to myself that I can make my relationship work because I know I’m too weak to be alone. I have no goals, no drive, no direction…” And this line of thought would continue until I had to stop what I was doing and support myself on a surgical tray or something until I could breathe again

These episodes would end and just leave me thinking, “What in the heck was that?” It took me perhaps too long to indentify the root of most of my problems; I was basically living without purpose. Furthermore, I couldn’t seem to find a purpose to remedy this until I was reminded of another helpful reality:

I’m not unique, and neither are my problems. This sounds harsh, but it’s really a comforting thought to me. Because millions of people have dealt with what I’m going through, solutions already abound. I was surrounded by them the whole time. 

Seriously though, there is no need to lament over not being unique. That you are like other people is the very common ground you establish friends on. It means you can find fixes to your problems without having to shoot into the dark until you hopefully hit the right target. Your experiences in the human condition put you in league with your fellow man, and are the foundations for much of the great things life has to offer.

Because you are not unique, you are not alone. There are many others like you who can help you through thick and thin, and whom you can help in turn. We can celebrate both our differences and our similarities as the true wealth of what makes humanity great!

• Uncategorized