Gets better over time. Gotta quit worryin' 'bout others' happiness. That's the only way I found happiness after watching so many people sit and complain about how miserable they are... yet... dooooo....... NOTHING! lol.
You can lead a horse to water, but yah can't make it drink. If that horse wants to lay down and die, let it. Drink the water, that it refused, and start walking. Cause... a dead horse ain't gonna take you out of the heat. It's gonna bloat, swell, smell like shit.... and then here come the vultures.
So, yes. And no. I used to feel butt-hurt when others are unhappy with their self-imposed condition. I'm tired of yelling, "Drink!!!" at a dead horse. I have legs. Plus, there are other pastures.... other horses. Some horses have been waiting for this opportunity their whole life.
I mean, if you wanna be unhappy about them being unhappy... are YOU happy? Maybe work on you, first. Let the horses that refuse to drink die. Then, the next time a miserable horse complains that it "takes to much effort to lower my head and drink this water...." why don't you point to all the old horse skeletons and say, "....yeah, i understand. They said the same thing..." turn around and start walking. Leave a live horse to sit among the dead and decide for itself. If it's alive when you bring the next horse - don't even talk to it. If it's still sitting there by the time you have come back, then it's still waiting to die. It has legs, it has water, if it complains that it has no food.... that's not your problem.
ACY
And, yes, stay out of their heads. Even IF you COULD go "in".... it only backfires. I'm not going to bother explaining. You probably have seen it. If you TRY to WILL them to do something, then they do the opposite.
Wanna know a short story?
My friend, I care about him very much. He was homeless. It was when i'd just found out some medical news, and I was afraid. I wanted to help him, so I invited him to live with me until he could get his shit together. I had 3 rules. 1) don't go in the locked room. 2) no hard drugs - cannabis is fine. 3) "IF you WANT to trip, tell me - I'll either make it as comfortable as possible, or i'll even dose WITH you."
That was it. Three rules. Everything else was his, as it was mine. Well... eventually rule 3 was broken. That hurt the most. I would have dealt with rule 1 or rule 2. Fine- i get it. Curiosity of a locked room... yeah i get it. Wanting to escape by using an opiate - i get it. I did not understand why in the world the easiest rule was the one that he broke. When i realized it, i confronted him. I saw everything in his face... he lied. I politely said, "hey fuck you - you need to go."
I didn't give up. I just GAVE him THE gift. The gift to choose. I didn't even stop communicating with him - I just told him that I needed time. 2 weeks later, he called me, crying, and he owned up to his mistake. He admitted it and apologized. Did i hold it against him? No. That's all I wanted. Trust. Honesty. I love him ENOUGH to say, "fuck you..." if i didn't, who would? Everyone else just enabled him or preached at him.
That was back in December. He lived in the woods until 4 days ago. A few times a week, i'd go visit him and bring him food or clothes. I gave him clothes for interviews, i paid for a hotel room so he could have a shower before interviews. I drained my savings trying to get him on his feet. I ran out of "stuff" that I could offer. I lost my jobs when i graduated (worked for the university as a student worker) - i have no money. I used a lot of it trying to put band-aids on his boo-boo. So, eventually.... i just stopped. I turned around and walked away. "Figure it out, buddy."
He has had a job for a little over a month. He's got more money than me (hahahahahahahaha) and when I asked if he knew anyone who wanted to buy my piss-toll, he offered to give me money.
Some times, yah gotta say the hard thing, "fuck you, go figure it out."
Me? I'm happy. Money is not my source of happiness. I'm happier that HE found HIS OWN happiness. I don't really have money... but, i said - i want to go back to school for my PhD. That would make me happy. And FUCK trying to find some miserable job due to societies expectations. So... i ran all the way out... and then it happened. I said, "I'll go back to school, but I want to be a wood-worker, first. I want to build some things." (My dad was a carpenter and his dad was a carpenter and his dad was a carpenter and his... i dunno how long our lineage goes back.)
So, I started building. Then, people liked what I build and said - "if you build this for me, I'll give you money." SO! I'm happy! I don't have much, but i've got what i need. My house is paid off... (I started a business, once.) I have a beautiful wife (who keeps telling me to get a "real job"
- I am a "chemist" according to my duh'gree). I have some genuine friends. What else do I need? Nothing. I need nothing. Everything from here on out, for me, is no longer survival. I am happy.
Sometimes it's good for a change. Other times it isn't.