Is this a normal feeling / thought to have? It's very painful.

I don't know if this will make sense to people but I'm just saying it like it is. Every day the most inconsequential thing can irritate me and it's like a "domino effect" happens in my brain and I start thinking about how weak I am as a person, like if this little thing can upset me then how weak am I compared to people who have been through actual struggles, and I think about how vulnerable we are as humans, how anything can hurt us and we're virtually powerless to stop it, I think about my friends and stories I've heard of awful things happening, images I've seen.

So yeah the result is that this one little minor inconvenience turned into thoughts of death and tragedy and injustice and I just shut down and wish I could flip a switch on my head to just fall asleep so I don't have to deal with anything anymore.

Like I said it's very painful. Does this happen to everyone?

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TinyViolins · 31-35, M

It's been postulated that people who were raised with very critical parents or perhaps abusive or neglectful one, they tend to set very high standards for themselves because they don't feel good enough. And when you hold yourself constantly to high standards, you develop a knack for perfectionism. You want things to go smooth and easy all the time so that you can avoid the criticism or painful memories you're accustomed to from your childhood.

Getting upset by little things going wrong or feeling like we're not enough of something is a constant feeling that plagues us and reminds of how imperfect everything is.

It's important to remember that there's only so much you can control. You have to learn to accept that you are never going to be everything to everybody, that others are not beholden to your standards and that you are not beholden to others'. For me, I just focus on the people around me. As long as I can treat them with kindness and respect, I know that I'm doing all that can be reasonably expected of me. If that's not good enough for them, so be it. They're not entitled to my time.