“I know this is small potatoes compared to world peace and ending hunger. I know other people have bigger problems than I will ever have.”

Yes, but that’s all relative, right? It’s upsetting when you complain about day-to-day life and people say something like, “just be glad you have all your fingers and toes.” The more you succeed in life, the more you reach for higher abstract goals. It’s just Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. So thinking about world peace (or world hunger) is counter-productive, unless it actually makes you feel like your problems are less… catastrophic.

I did almost exactly the same with one of my grades at uni, and I have been through much worse, i felt utterly stupid for bawling my eyes out over a bit of paper.

Wow on the catastrophe!
What a reaction –our body just has a meltdown sometimes, it can be really more than just a tip of the iceberg, our emotional response springs from a big base underneath the surface doesn’t it sometimes. When this happens as if by reflex it seems we need to acknowledge the feelings and then assure ourselves– become like a parent talking to that over-reactive, temper tantrum-like child side of ourselves. The need to hear its expressions, and then soothe and comfort it.
I got an F on Rhet and Comp in college on a paper I spent 40hours to write. It got an F because of numerous comma splices I committed! Go figure–I had a Mount St. Helens right there in class. I needed nothing less than an A in that class and in every class. I needed 4.0 cum gpa for graduate school. That’s when things really get catastrophe-like. I remember getting so stressed in college I broke out in herpes fever blisters. I also got suicidal seriously. I always have the anxiety disorder, social phobia, depression, OCD stuff, perfectionism too. I feel for you! The catastrophic reaction passes right?
Today I thought about a swimming pool and injecting red dye into the pool from the pool returns. Emotions are like injecting various color dyes into our system. Red for anger, green for envy…. Anyway with all the chemicals our thoughts inject into a brain environment based on our thoughts, maybe if we understand that they will dilute themselves out and so we just have to ride it out and be careful how we think. It probably really is a need to learn how to guard our thoughts and control what we think. Easier said than done, I am 47 and still havent mastered maturity.

My response to this article has nothing to do with grades, world peace, or hunger. Maybe there’s another place to write this (apparently, I haven’t found it).

Visiting relatives in 2006, I was told not to talk about the PTSD I experienced when Hurricane Rita happened at our home.

For lack of a better word that I just can’t think of right now, how’s that for love?

Sorry, I’m in those moody blues that haven’t gotten resolved in 3 yrs. Don’t mind me.

I’m glad you are on Psych Central. Keep up the wonderful articles.

Regards, Sara

Hi Sara,
What you experienced wtih Hurricane Rita must have been awful. I could not imagine what you went through as we have storms in Western Australia but nothing like what you went through.

Did the relatives you visited suffer through Hurricane Rita as well? If they did, I think they must be living with PTSD as well and not realising it. They may be in as much pain as you are but without the ability to understand why they can’t talk about it. Some people think if they don’t think or talk about it, it will eventually simply go away.

Have you talked to a professional about this?