Monday Nite Thinktank

I find it funny that when guys talk about feeling down, feeling depressed, etc., advice always offered up if said individual is single can almost without fail include "get a girl." The reason I find this humorous is that I have seldom seen anyone who is happier in a relationship than they are out of one. Like Nietzsche said, "Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent." Now, I would like to defend myself and say that I am not in any way misogynistic, as I will apply this thought in reverse as well (in the sense of it affecting women as well as men.)

Just like Nietzsche said, a personal relationship with an individual that you allow to dictate your happiness very frequently will leave you disappointed and worse off than before. Why? Because you need to rely on yourself for happiness and satisfaction. It's frustrating to be told to place that burden on other people. I ask myself "Why should I?" I question why it should be emotionally healthy in any sense to rely on another person to provide me with a happiness boost. Other people are disappointing. It's one thing to disappoint yourself, something which you control, but it's another thing to be disappointed by another, because that is totally out of your control. Why would you purposely put yourself in a position to be powerless over your happiness? Control it by controlling yourself.

The main point of this is that other people are unreliable. You are as reliable as you are willing to be to yourself, so embrace that. The idea that in order to be fulfilled, you need some sort of close relationship with another person is a myth. As Jean-Paul Sartre said, "If you are bored when you are alone, you are in bad company." So be able to engage yourself and be able to interest yourself. To depend on other people's actions and feelings for your mood is foolish in the highest degree.