Hey you know what really sucks? Depression. Which is why I don’t like talking about it. It not only
sucks the life out of you, but it can suck the life out of others as well. One of the reasons
why it’s so hard to talk about depression is because there are different levels to
it. What may feel like major depression to one person, is normal sadness to another.
I think at some point we’ve all gone through that period in our lives. Those moments where we want to be optimistic about the future,
but it’s hard to find a reason to. That could be how someone who is watching this video is
feeling right now, and that’s why I’m making this video.
A crazy woman once said, “ain’t nobody got time for that.” And that’s exactly
how I feel about depression. Who the hell wants to be sad 24/7? When life is as short
as it is. But how do you find peace when nothing is going the way you want it to?
Well you do it like how Stan did it in South Park.
Our story begins with Stan celebrating his 10th birthday. He starts the episode excited,
since who doesn’t like birthdays? But soon he discovers the hard to swallow truth about them.
That being, new age, means new change. Some changes are ones that we grow fond of,
and others feel like the end of the world. In this case, very suddenly, the world as Stan knew it has
unexpectedly changed for the worse. He starts to notice that all of the sudden,
all the music he listens to, no matter what it is, sounds like total crap. Not only that,
but the food he used to love doesn’t taste the same anymore, and even hearing people talk
is unpleasant for him. He quickly develops this extremely toxic personality, whether it be
intentional or not. He takes cynicism to a whole new level. He starts complaining about literally everything.
Stan's friends slowly become tired of his toxic negativity. It gets to a point where they have to avoid him. When Stan attempts
to talk it out with them, they make it very clear they don’t want to hang out with him anymore.
Kyle is the one still wanting to keep hope, but even he can’t take Stan’s toxicity anymore.
It gets even worse for Stan, as moments later, his parents divorce.
Having already had a negative opinion about the world, a sudden life change such as this
doesn’t quite help his situation. In fact, it makes him even more depressed than he already was.
In the following scenes you can’t help but feel bad for both Kyle and Stan. Kyle truly wants to
help his friend, but he doesn’t want Stan’s negativity to alter his perspective of how
he views the world. That’s a pretty difficult situation to be in, and if I’m being honest,
I’m not sure what’s the right way to go about it. It raises the question, is it better to
hang on to your friend in this situation, and try to help them, or to let them go altogether?
You can tell by Stan’s body language, at this point, it’s more serious than the world feeling like crap. He
doesn’t see a point to anything anymore. Sure, he still gets out of bed, and goes to school,
but he’s not there mentally. Nobody he talks to understands his situation.
I think the main issue here is that people aren’t willing to meet him halfway. Kyle and the counselor come off as,
“your attitude is unacceptable, Stan, and until you straighten it up nobody is going to want
to talk to you”. I believe that type of advice can definitely make someone feel lonely. Having
the belief that nobody really cares if you're depressed, nobody cares that you need a friend,
and all that matters is you better get over it or else you will face the consequences. That’s when
the topic of toxic positivity comes in. What good is positivity if you have to fake it for everyone?
I don’t want to get too deep into it, because I think people can use toxic positivity
as an excuse to keep being depressed forever, and also, Stan is in the wrong here too,
you can’t keep being an obnoxious clown and expect people to still want to hang out with you.
Stan tells the counselor he wants everything to go back to the way it was, but he tells
him that’s not going to happen because in life things change and that’s just the way it is.
Quick point, definitely one of the reasons he’s depressed has to be the terrible parents he has.
When your parents have toxic personalities,
at some point their attitudes are going to rub off on you.
Stan meets a bunch of people at a hospital thinking they’re going to heal him,
but he eventually finds out they’re all crazy nut jobs who take the movie “The Matrix” a bit too
seriously. This might seem like a joke, but it’s a serious issue that I’ve experienced personally.
When you’re depressed, or feeling hopeless, people can seriously take advantage of you. One day you
might meet someone claiming they want to help you, when in actuality their plan is to manipulate you
for their needs, and their wants. In this case, they tell Stan the only way he is going to feel better
is if he becomes an alcoholic and uses that high to convince everyone that the world is crap. This
leads to Kyle being even more concerned for Stan than he already was. He tells his former friend,
“sometimes the only way to keep going is to make a left turn.” It’s an interesting quote,
but Stan doesn’t take this advice until the end of the story. He finally gets tired of
people taking advantage of him and says enough is enough with the alcohol. He had to realize,
the hard way, that he doesn’t want everything to go back to the way it was
because that would be boring. It’s better to just move on. He accepts his life is changing,
but starts being optimistic about the future. The message here is change is a good thing.
Well... it can be depending on your mindset. For Stan, a slight attitude shift is enough
to cure his depression. Even if it was difficult for him to alter his mindset.
What this story expresses is even if your life isn’t the way you want it to be right now,
it’s still possible to find peace in the current situation you’re in. Depression is temporary,
it will pass, as all things do, but that's only if you stay away from those toxic traps.
Those people that say they’re your friends, but every time you hang with them you feel
like complete crap afterwards, probably aren't your friends.
Addictions that seemingly ease the pain temporarily, will only make you
more depressed in the long run.
I think what a lot of us need to realize, myself included at times, is sadness is not a bad
thing. If you took away sadness then what is happiness? If happiness and sadness can
coexist, then it’s okay to feel the way that you do. It doesn’t make you inferior to anyone else,
it doesn’t mean people are living a better life than you, it means you’re human, and that’s okay.
Once things finally get better, which they will, you’ll thank that period of sadness
for helping you discover what true happiness feels like.
I hoped this video helped, and thanks for watching.