It’s hard to ever be completely satisfied with anything. But at the same time it’s possible to recognize that progress has been made and continue going without turning it into a self-made catastrophe.

At least I like to believe this. But it’s not true for everyone. Other ways of thinking, feeling, and conceptualizing the world and one’s place in it seem to create narratives of failure and spiraling depression. It does not matter if these are imaginary failures. They are real enough to the person feeling them. And how can anyone argue with such narratives and the pain that accompanies them?

Meanwhile witnesses to this real pain, resulting from what are imaginary circumstances, can only look on helplessly.