The Peculiar Glorification of Misery.

It’s a strange behavior, but most of us are familiar with it. We’ve experienced these people that like to glorify their misery. They bring it up in conversations, sometimes unprompted.

Imagine you were telling one of these people that you’re feeling tired because you only got 5 hours of sleep last night.

They might respond with:

“5 hours? I’d kill to get that.”

Or:

“That’s nothing. I’ve gotten as little as 3.”

Maybe even:

“Pfft, you wouldn’t last a day in my shoes.”

Innocent enough as a jab between friends, maybe. It certainly can be brushed aside as the occasional comment. Then there’s the chronic complainers that say things like this all the time.

The thing that always sticks out to me is this: why is that something to be proud of?

Should we really be enjoying the fact that we’ve managed to survive this long on so little sleep, or maybe with such a terrible job, or some other problem that persistently plagues us? It’s not like complaining does these problems any good.

I know that a lot of other people have written about this. Usually they try to reduce these people that are so eager to promote their misery, and capitalize on their borderline masochist traits with condescending quips.

But I don’t see that as productive. Instead, an argument to change that behavior is more fitting:

Shouldn’t we be giving ourselves the chance to get more sleep, be as sharp as we can, and pursue career opportunities that promote and reward our intelligence?

If we’re only surviving, and not thriving, then that is a sign that something is wrong. Our conditions that we live in should do more than sustain us, they should allow us to evolve and grow in our chosen directions.

In my opinion, there is little to brag about in these kinds of things. We may be able to take some pride in our ability to endure it, but that doesn’t mean we should make bad conditions our standard.

Instead, why don’t we try to improve those conditions, and give ourselves the lives we really deserve?