How to deal with pain a.k.a. the suckiness of life

Short answer: You don’t.

And the long answer? Well, read on…

I saw this vlog by Hank Green and it kindda broke my heart.

The first part is hilarious, but then it turns serious. What do you do when you’re being bullied? How do you deal with life when everything about it sucks?

Hank didn’t know. When he was younger he would cry, he would hate himself and hate his life. He didn’t know how to deal with the pain. He still doesn’t know. To quote him: "You're job is not to deal with it. Your job is to survive it, which you can do because it will end."

I think he’s right. When life truly sucks, you’re not supposed to deal with it. When you’re knee-deep in suck you’re not supposed to somehow grow from the experience. You’re not supposed to learn anything. You’re not supposed to act like a mature human being.

You’re just supposed to survive.

Don’t put additional pressure on yourself to handle whatever suckiness you’re in, in a mature manner. To be nice. To learn from the experience. To behave like a mature adult.

Sad Aaron Paul accompanied by sad cat. It's a double-whammy of sadness.

If you want to lie down on the floor and kick and scream, by all means, do it.

If you need to block out the pain to be able to function, then do that.

If you need to cry, then do that.

If you need to take illegal substances or harm yourself, please reconsider (suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem).

Do whatever you can to get through the day (and those long lonely nights). Just please get through, okay?

You can always deal with the repercussions of the pain later. It’s not like that childhood-trauma is going anywhere (sorry to burst your bubble).

But before you can even begin to deal with your pain, you need to get through it.

So yeah. I don’t know how to deal with pain.

I don’t know what to do when life sucks and your cat just drowned and you just got dumped and they just cancelled your favorite TV-show (I’m looking at you, the TV-network that cancelled Veronica Mars).

I don’t think anybody really knows how to deal with soul-crushing pain. Should you know the answer please enlighten me.

But you’re not supposed to deal with your pain. Not while you’re in it.

You’re just supposed to survive.

And for what it’s worth, it will get better.

See? Aaron is smiling at you. He's  happy again. You will be happy again too. I promise.

(I hear there are talks of a Veronica Mars-movie… hey a girl can dream right?)