To think life is more of a pain in the arse than it's worth

Good for you, but we are all different.

Yes, I love my life at the moment because I am healthy and happy, but I certainly don't want to live for ever.

I don't want to use up resources which can be used for younger people. I am grateful that I have lived so long as so many other people do not.

That doesn't mean they aren't affected by it, even if you can't see it. I can guarantee they are not carrying on the same.

It's always there underneath though. Unfortunately I don't have to imagine.

Have you heard of nihalism op? It's basically the belief that life is meaningless and pointless. Which it kind of is as we just randomly pop in and out of existence on this rock floating through space.

I think exactly the same as you when I'm in my dark places usually when it's midwinter and everything seems bleak. As soon as spring comes I perk up and I'm happy as Larry.

Basically my life is good right now. So it means I feel good. My life has been shit before and I felt shit. My aim in life now is to keep an even keel, stay away from the drama as much as possible.

The fact is I'm alive whether I like it or not and I can either be miserable or happy. So I do things to try and keep the happiness around. Stay away from news and social media. Get out in nature. Blast through the chores with music so I can go spend my time chilling in the woods or on the beach.

Come back to me and ask again when life's wheel has spun around and I'm at a low point. I can forsee serious health problems in my family as we age so I'm enjoying the good times now whilst they last. I have already decided that if I get very old, ill and lonely I will just stroll off a cliff if no other humane option is available to me. Stuff pointless suffering for years on end. I'd have had a good go at life.

OP would it make any difference to know that it is a miracle you’re here at all? You’re the result of one egg meeting one out of possibly 300 million sperm. Had it been a different sperm, then…no you.

I think this nails it. I have been through far more tragedy and most (I know it isn't a competition, but sadly I do always win for worst things that could ever happen to anyone) but the smell of a rose after rain can still bring me pleasure. Admittedly, that is hard won through times of despair, but I also think must be innate. I know people who objectively have had fairly straightforward lives but are very 'woe is me'.

I think the ability to take pleasure in simple things is the key to happiness and maybe it is innate. I am grateful to have it.

And that is my motivation to get up out of bed and thoroughly enjoy my working day today. The sun is shining too, happy days 😀

Or choose not to make those things the main focus of your existence.

I picked up on ‘for a while’. Maybe that’s it, some people have a bounce-back personality and can get on and enjoy life easily once again and others don’t, these events darken their world permanently.

It happened decades ago. Of course such an awful event would be with them for the rest of their life, but they had more children and have been great members of the community, giving lots of their time to various organisations. Some people are genuinely able to pick themselves up and carry on.

Life is what you make it. You can chose to moan about the storms or learn to dance in the rain!

Yes of course, but losing 3 children in a freak accident? I’m not so sure that anyone could after this.

Many people can be genuinely happy again after very traumatic events, whether you can imagine it or not.

I very much doubt that couple is happy. Maybe they put on a smile for those around them but I can’t imagine them being genuinely happy after that traumatic event.

People keep having children because the maternal urge is very strong in most women. It's as simple as that. Most people don't sit down and consider the state of the world before trying for a baby. They just really really want one, to fill their maternal need.

Everybody does not remember their child/teen/young person years with fondness and affection!!

Those are indeed among the significant life events, so you've been there. I didn't mean you are specifically in oblivion. A lot of the general population seems to be though. Lucky them. I know I was and I'm very lucky that I got to be in my 40s before I found out how blissfully naive that position was.

I don't think I'm in a happy oblivion. I lost my dad, when I was a child, in pretty awful circumstances. I've also lost a sibling to cancer, when they were very very young.

"I'm quite content with the idea that life has no deeper meaning and we're all just creating our own meaning on whatever level we choose." I do agree with this though.

Objectively gash around here. You are a wordsmith.

No, some people are in happy oblivion about how life can be. I remember being there too.

Losing elderly relatives or parents isn't the same as some tragedy that involves your child or even your spouse. That's in the natural order. Though at least the spouse is more in the natural order than a child if you get old enough. Even with all I've been through and losing a child and finding out my other children are at risk, I can appreciate that I'm not in the position of those poor people who lose their whole family in one swoop. What a nightmare.

That's not to say I'm not having a good time. I'm having a good time at the same time as managing the shit. I'm quite content with the idea that life has no deeper meaning and we're all just creating our own meaning on whatever level we choose.

Some days it does cross my mind that the only escape I have is when I do eventually die, but I still want to get really old. Meanwhile, I'm creating my own fun and joy.

I was responding to a post by the OP, who apparently is not suffering from depression.

No, I have never had it and agree that I am lucky. I do have one friend who suffers from it, but even she seems to be able to find joy at times and I can't imagine her making a post like the original one, which seems to be from someone who simply can't be bothered looking for the good things in life.

I disagree, despite being in the ‘life is amazing, albeit with some tangibly shit bits’ camp myself. Some of what we’re seeing is not mental illness but just different personality styles. Even from the youngest ages, we see the world in different ways. I have one child who is very light hearted and one who has been always close to ennui from her earliest days. She’s not unwell, and my looser living child isn’t an idiot either. They are just very differently wired.

The shrug emoji was about me having a good time. Not after I said sorry.

I've lost several family members to various things. Yes, if I lost my husband or child tomorrow my life would be shit for a while. Doesn't mean that everyone else's lives are also shit and that they're all lying about it.

The shrug emoji made it look a bit sarcastic.

There's hard times and then there's hard times. I guarantee you won't be having such a good time for years if one of your children, your husband or yourself die or is diagnosed with a terminal or serious illness next week.

Uh, I did. That's why I said sorry that the OP isn't.

I was just making the point that not everyone thinks life is shit. And I've had plenty of hard times too.