You know what burns my toast and wets my biscuit? Of course you don't.
When I've researched ways to fix, heal, deal with my madness I would occasionally come across some of that homeopathic, holistic, vegan, spirit crystal, healing junk. While skeptical, I'm an open minded person. Surely some of that stuff must work for some people. Whelp, either I didn't try the right arrangement of stuff or I'm not one of those people. My shit's legit.
And from this I've grown to loathe the bastardized, hodgepodge spirituality that people practice. It's not that I like all my religions distinct and easily identifiable. I'm all for borrowing what works for you but don't become preachy and dogmatic about it. That alkaline water, pineal gland, chakras, vibrations bullshit can get under my skin when people just skim the subject and don't understand the science and mechanics of what they're talking about. Don't talk to me about vibrations if you can't talk about the double-slit experiment. I'm not a child anymore. You're not just going to tell me to try something and that it works and not explain how or why. That's bad religion, word to Frank Ocean.
I also really despise excessive & overbearing positivity. This usually comes in the form of people trying to market certain images of themselves on the social medias. Or those self-help books about how to be jolly all the time. As if anger and sadness aren’t parts of the human experience. Avoiding negative feelings is silly. Not learning to express them in healthy ways can develop a bit of neurosis. Example A.
“Cheer up”, “keep your head up”, “focus on the positive”. BLEHCK! Your childish commitment to eternal sunshine is vomit inducing. I am trying to lead by example in this. It is my opinion that I’m a great balance of goofball and brooder.
Check out this TedTalk titled The Cult of Happiness. It's a good one. It's 15 minutes long yes but let's be serious you have the time. (I wasn't sure where the commas went in that last sentence so I deleted all of them. Appropriate comma usage is the most common reason I got points deducted on papers.)
See, I’ve tried it all. I’ve done healthy eating, I've done exercise, I’ve done intentional socialization. I’ve done cleaning my room and minimalism. I’ve done nature. I’ve done music. I’ve done meditation(honestly that made it worse). The point is, I’ve tried the things they say you should do but your depression makes you not want to do and your anhedonia keeps you from enjoying.
Take swimming for example. I love to swim, ask my parents about it. I'm a beach and pool snob. It’s usually very therapeutic for me. And I remember the experience of forcing myself to do it. I wasn’t enjoying it. My shadowy friend was destroying who I thought I was and ruining my usual forms of ...."self-care"(gawd i almost threw up). Anhedonia took it all from me.
So, be careful before you make recommendations commoner. Keep your yoga, and your green smoothies, and your hikes. I've tried it. Screw you and your 1st world sadness you simple bitch. Sorry. I get angry about it. I have similar visceral responses to moralistic yet racist and classist arguments for veganism.
Anyways... rant over.