Thursday, April 01, 2004
Monday, March 29, 2004
Is There No Place On Earth For Me?
I've been spending some time reading the book Is There No Place On Earth For Me? by Susan Sheehan. It was recommended to me by someone who read the entry I wrote on Shame last month. It reminded this person of "Sylvia Frumkin," whose life the book describes. When it comes to books on this subject, I usually don't read books that others recommend to me. I like to think I've read every book out there on depression, and none of them has inspired me or motivated me to make changes to my life.
This book seems to be different, though. I try never to say anything about something I read unless I've read it in its entirety, but so far I can't help but mention some interesting things. (Once I finish the book, however, I reserve the right to abnegate anything and everything I say here. :-) ) So far, it's given me a sense of perspective about my own life situation. When I started this blog, I thought it was a relatively big deal. I thought it was quite unusual for an intelligent person to be depressed and suicidal for eleven years and to have been hospitalized on three separate occasions as a result. Sylvia Frumkin's story makes my problems sound like a walk in the park. I was worried when I first started about the possibility of my problems sounding trivial when compared to someone else's, but I decided to go ahead anyway. I don't retract or regret anything I wrote. Just because someone else had a rougher life than I did doesn't invalidate the pain I that experienced. Sylvia's difficulties were arguably much worse than mine were. She had to stay at mental hospitals much longer and much more often than I did. It made me realize that there are other people out there going through the same things that I'm going through, or worse. If this book ends up changing the way I look at life, then I don't understand why this book isn't required reading for everyone, starting from the 5th grade (or as early as possible). Hindsight isn't 20/20, but if I read this book when I was still growing up, it would have at least warned me of some of the realities of how life can turn out, and I could have adjusted my own plans accordingly. Even if I tried my best in life, I could still end up like Sylvia.
I will explain why I feel this way, but not right now. It would help if I finished reading the book first!
I've been spending some time reading the book Is There No Place On Earth For Me? by Susan Sheehan. It was recommended to me by someone who read the entry I wrote on Shame last month. It reminded this person of "Sylvia Frumkin," whose life the book describes. When it comes to books on this subject, I usually don't read books that others recommend to me. I like to think I've read every book out there on depression, and none of them has inspired me or motivated me to make changes to my life.
This book seems to be different, though. I try never to say anything about something I read unless I've read it in its entirety, but so far I can't help but mention some interesting things. (Once I finish the book, however, I reserve the right to abnegate anything and everything I say here. :-) ) So far, it's given me a sense of perspective about my own life situation. When I started this blog, I thought it was a relatively big deal. I thought it was quite unusual for an intelligent person to be depressed and suicidal for eleven years and to have been hospitalized on three separate occasions as a result. Sylvia Frumkin's story makes my problems sound like a walk in the park. I was worried when I first started about the possibility of my problems sounding trivial when compared to someone else's, but I decided to go ahead anyway. I don't retract or regret anything I wrote. Just because someone else had a rougher life than I did doesn't invalidate the pain I that experienced. Sylvia's difficulties were arguably much worse than mine were. She had to stay at mental hospitals much longer and much more often than I did. It made me realize that there are other people out there going through the same things that I'm going through, or worse. If this book ends up changing the way I look at life, then I don't understand why this book isn't required reading for everyone, starting from the 5th grade (or as early as possible). Hindsight isn't 20/20, but if I read this book when I was still growing up, it would have at least warned me of some of the realities of how life can turn out, and I could have adjusted my own plans accordingly. Even if I tried my best in life, I could still end up like Sylvia.
I will explain why I feel this way, but not right now. It would help if I finished reading the book first!
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