lady_kishiria | A stumbling block and foolishness

Over the past two months, I've been losing friends or being unpleasant to read.

brotherskeeper1 de-friendlisted and banned me with no explanation,

panookah defriendlisted me with no warning, though without the ban, and no less than three people have used my life as the gold standard on what constitutes True Difficulty In Life, as in "I shouldn't complain, some people are burying relatives and returning to war zones." And that's just the stuff I'm willing to mention here.

I know what's going on with me could be triggering for some people. I've put material behind cuts because of that. But folks, my father in law died after a long and accomplished life and his death was peaceful and holy. I am returning to a war zone, but I'd rather do that than lose a friend, animal or human. Please don't use my life as a yardstick of difficulty because nobody should build up a hierarchy of misery, e.g. "I was beaten by my parents but X lost HIS parents in a tsunami!" It's excellent to have a sense of perspective, but if something causes you pain, it causes you pain. Denying yourself the right to feel that only makes things worse.

Losing friends makes me hurt, but I'm not here to live up to anyone's expectations, and no one is here to live up to mine. Doesn't mean I like it though.