I hate motivational speakers…we’ll I dont really hate them, they are amazing. They are so inspiring, yet they make me feel like crap.
Most motivational speakers/speakers in general have been through something big that they have grown from or something that has changed there life. By the end of the speech the moral of the story is always that you can overcome anything you want to.
Last night the leader of Alex’s Lemonade Stand came to our school to speak. Her daughter was alex so she talked about her daughter how she was always happy and wanted to raise money for cancer and stuff. One of the things that her daughter said was that she was “Happy for what I have, not unhappy for what I dont”. It is a really beautiful and true quote and i thought it was great but at the same time it hit me like a train. I mean. This little girl went through so much pain and eventually passed away yet she was so happy and so willing to help other people out. Her mom also had to deal with her daughter being in pain and dealing with the death of her daughter yet she is still happy. So why cant I?
It’s that feeling of knowing that so many people are worse off than you, yet are happy. So any people have been through so much more than you, but are still happy. So whats wrong with you, why cant you just be happy, you shouldnt be depressed, you should be normal. And from there it progresses to hate, hating yourself for being depressed, for not having a purpose, for every little thing being such a huge task, for everything.
They make me hate myself for not being what I should be.
From The Tips of The Evergreens 
Yes … I know what you mean. But, as you know, you’re looking at yourself through the lens of depression, rather than the lens of compassion. Your emotions are real, and sadly you can’t wish them away, no matter how inspiring someone else’s story might be. I wonder whether an alternate message to take away from that motivational speaker might be: “There are people both better and worse off than me, and we are all react to the traumas in our lives in our own authentic ways; these people have done something amazing, and I’m happy for them, but I am in a different place right now”?
I hope you don’t mind me writing to you like this – I don’t want to sound preachy or as though I’m mouthing platitudes. These are just some thoughts I had as I read your story.
Be well 🙂
No problem its totally fine! Thanks for the idea, I always try to take away something positive whenever I go and see someone speak, sadly its difficult though.
Yes, it is difficult. I think it’s good to isolate the difficulties, instead of brushing them aside, because then we can sift through and find the nugget of gold we hope is hiding there. I struggle with this too, so this is a “blind leading the blind” sort of comment – if only we could all take our own advice, right?!
Yes it is, but in a lot of situations its the blind leading the blind sadly. I wish i knew what’s right and whats wrong and just knowing in general…not knowing is the worst.