If i broke my leg doing a sick backflip on a motorcycle and you broke your leg tripping on the way to the supermarket, would you have less of a broken leg compared to me?
The way I interpreted OP's post was that they felt their suffering was not proportionate to their circumstances. In other words, that they are overreacting to their own circumstances when other people who are reacting equivalently to them are doing it because their circumstances are significantly worse (implying their reaction is more justified, and OP is just being a "big baby").
Using your analogy, it would be more accurate to say "If I sprained my ankle but was reacting as if I broke it, because the way people react when they break their ankles is the way I am reacting to my sprained ankle" (I only used ankle because I am not actually sure if it's possible to sprain a leg?). Your analogy is implying that OP is reacting to identical circumstances (both people breaking their legs), but that seemed to be what they were concerned about- that their circumstances is not the same, and actually not as severe, therefore they are overreacting.
Anyone else sometimes come here, read the really horrible things that've happened to other people and think that they're just overreacting to their own suffering?
Like, I know comparing traumas is stupid but I still can't help but think I'm just being a big baby sometimes and that my life is actually fine.
I dunno, does this ever happen to any of you?
I think this is really common! Likely because we don't know what it is like to be other people and live their lives. We have only ever known our own reality. It's also important to consider we are all different as humans, and we react differently to our circumstances. This is why some people can have horrible upbringings but still manage to turn out okay without a ton of trauma, whereas other people have upbringings that are not nearly as bad, yet they had horrible depression. Siblings are a fantastic demonstration of this (how they come from the same house yet can grow up dramatically different). It's almost impossible to compare your situation to somebody else's, because there are a million factors that make up our reality. Everything from our family, friends, neighborhood,
genetics, expectations, teachers, culture, etc. We also react to so many things subconsciously, or we bury things deep in our minds, so sometimes we don't even remember some of the trauma that occured to us!
What is important is your suffering is very real, regardless if you think it is unjustified because somebody seems to have it "worse" than you. Their suffering does not diminish your suffering. In fact, it can do the opposite! You may feel guilty for your suffering, which makes you suffer even more (which is what you expressed). It's like a feedback loop that perpetually goes in circles.
Growing up, my parents put a roof over my head, fed me, bought me clothing, etc. They didn't even physically hit me. So I was in complete denial of my depression because I would always say "you have it better than so many other people so you do not deserve to be depressed." I probably learned to tell myself this because my parents would say it to me. They constantly would invalidate my sadness because my life "could be so much worse." That shit only made me feel guilty and more depressed.
