Lifestyles

No one wants to be unhappy.  Right?  I used to believe that, but I am not so sure anymore.

Every so often I find myself feeling very frustrated and even angry when confronted by the lifestyle choices of others, going out of their way to create the very situations they moan about.

Every conversation goes back to the injustice, the terrible situations, the absolutely unbearable conditions they live under.  It is as if their identity relies on being used and put upon in order to impress upon the world that they can survive, even thrive, when life is so hard others might cave in.

If life improves, they sabotage themselves by going out of their way to recreate the old situations.  Then resume their old position of "poor me."

I want to help them, to show them that the energy it takes to retain the old ways could be turned around and used to make life better--even good!  They appear to understand, but soon they are fully immersed in the way it was.

Maybe I am the one with the problem.  Perhaps there is something full bodied and satisfying about savoring the dark side.

I prefer something different.