YES IT DOES help to understand there are always others worse off, IF you've got the guts to step out of your self pity and get on with stuff. Everyone's a victim of something at some level. To believe that your level is the worst just won't do.
I'd rather be shot than pitied and to look for pity or even sympathy is just selfish and weak.
Sometimes wallowing is good, but there are rules attached, namely 1) it must not last more than 15 minutes 2) must not be done more than once a week (although special dispensation for extreme cases) and 3) it must NEVER EVER be done in public. I think if you imagine the worst and think you would never be able to survive it, when it happens you realise that you have no choice and it is simply impossible to lie down and die.
Do you know that when asked which city The Streets of London was referring to, only 37 percent of the country got the correct answer. I heard that on that quiz show that Anne woman who always dresses in black runs with 50 lawers, 50 tea ladies, 50 trucj drivers, 50 athletes etc.
My father told me that during the Great Depression of the 1930s there was a running joke that went:
Well, things could always be worse.....
...and in a few weeks, they were!
I don't recommend that as a basis for living your life, though.
If you can get the Dr Phil Show in the UK, watch a few episodes. He's a psychologist with a very practical no-BS approach. When people come to him after experiencing a great tragedy, he specifically tells them: "The one thing you'll NEVER hear me say is that I know how you feel....because I don't." He then goes on to address the problem itself. Good show.
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