ճգնաժամ

I've always hated it when people suggest that a solution to my mental health struggles is to think about how other people have it much worse. It has always seemed like what they're suggesting is that my problem isn't real, while some people do have real problems. If I'm suffering, how is thinking about how other people are suffering more, a solution?

But lately my view about this has changed. I do think about how other people have bigger problems than I do, and about how things could be worse for me. I think the reason I'm able to think like this now though, is because the challenge of tapering off Valium has changed the way I see anxiety, depression and rumination. 

They are not conditions that I'm stuck with and stuck in and can't do anything about. I see them as drivers of change. The changes I'm making, and my new life, are permanent, but those conditions aren't.