I read this article recentely from a great movie site I visit and it struck a cord with me.

Geeks Vs Loneliness: your problems, and why they matter

Den of Geek said:

Just a quick word for those who feel that, in the scheme of things, their problems have no merit.

We're departing a little from the tone of the first three articles in our Geek Vs Loneliness series this week, to talk about something a little more personal.

Before we do, our usual recap. This series of articles serves two purposes. One, to hopefully pass on a tip or two that may be useful to some, although inevitably not all, people. And secondly, to get us all talking. There's such a disappointing stigma surrounding issues such as depression, loneliness, anxiety and stress, yet so many of us - even hugely successful people - battle such conditions. If you find yourself affected by them, or anything close, then please realise this: you're absolutely not alone. Let the comments from other human beings (for that is what they are!) underneath our articles to date be just a small bit of evidence as to that.

One thing we've not said so far, by the way: feel free to lift these Geeks Vs Loneliness articles in their entirety and post them elsewhere. Don't worry about a linkback. Try it on a Statham article though, and trouble will lie ahead.

So then. I wanted to talk this week about problems. Not specific ones, rather the idea that, in the scheme of the world, your problems don't matter. That because some people have things worse than you might, it somehow means that your problems have no place.

Often, I look at things I face, and see that they're insignificant in the grander scheme of things. How, set against terrible things such as famine, war and oppression can something I'm facing actually matter?

It took someone to point the following out to me: it's not a like for like comparison.

There are brilliant things in the world, and there are bad things in the world. You may have 95% of your life going right, you may have 95% of it going wrong. But if something matters to you, no matter how small it may appear, then don't pretend it doesn't.

Certainly it helps to get things into a sense of perspective. Me feeling down on a day is nothing compared to some. But it doesn't mean that I don't have to deal with it, and it doesn't mean that I don't have to face it. Sometimes, perspective helps me. Sometimes, it makes me feel worse. It doesn't change the fact that, somewhere along the line, I'm facing a problem.

As my colleague so brilliantly put it, "the worst thing that's ever happened to you is the worst thing that ever happened to you, regardless of its place in the continuum of bad things ever to happen to people". And that’s absolutely true

This series of articles has already touched on one or two tips to help with stress, and to help with problems (links are at the bottom). What I wanted to say in this piece is this: please don't kid yourself that you don't matter. Please don't assume that what's getting you down is trivial. Please, and this is so, so much easier to write than do: address what it is. Admit that there's something that needs fixing, and take a step or two to try and do so. There are people with far better advice on this who will add better hints in the comments, I'm sure. But your problems really do matter, and they really do deserve your recognition.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

The comments are similarly interesting and ring true.

"Never devalue your own problems by comparing them to others. 'People go through worse' is an offhand comment meant to put a different perspective on your suffering yet is extremely stigmatising. It's equivalent to a nurse in A&E saying "Yes your arm is broken and causing you extreme pain but that person over there has broken their back and can't move". It doesn't change the fact that you're in extreme pain but manages to make you feel less deserving.

It's bullshit. If you're suffering then seek help, don't let anyone put you down for it"

"Plus there's a mindset that if something worked for one person but not for me then obviously I'm doing it wrong"

"Come up against this lots of times, and you're absolutely on the money. The whole idea of one answer fits all. You're not doing it wrong. The whole idea of a simple fit answer is at fault."

And yes this all relates to my asshole brother.