This is for you lowonbrain, does wallowing in misery really help or does it just prolong the agony?

Question

feel free to chime in everybody!!!!

Answer 1

This is a very good question. The obvious answer is: A courageous human being should never wallow in misery. … BUT, being a true "lowonbrain" that I am (and lucky for you for having found one on this site, btw - lol), I have to question even a good answer! ... So, I wonder if there is an “evolutionary significance” to wallowing in one's misery even if it usually leads to prolonging the agony? Various possibilities come to my “lowonbrain mind” (i.e. take what I'm saying with a grain of salt and at your own risk):

One explanation would be that wallowing is a subconscious (and at times NOT so subconscious) cry for help, security, and attention (emotional, financial, etc.) In other words, playing on other people’s capacity for mercy and seeing if you can get away with others bailing you out and solving your problems for you. Potentially a nice “survival” trick, if you happen to be lucky enough to have caring enough people (or suckers, depending on how you wish to see them) around you who will fall for such acts of emotional blackmail (for one reason or another). Upside: You manipulate others into solving your problems for you, etc. Downside: Your self-esteem, freedom and independence are bound to take a beating in the long run.

Another explanation would again have to do with the underlying “survival game” and the art of self-preservation. For some people wallowing serves as a free organic tranquilizer - a sort of temporary natural system shutdown in response to an overwhelming case of emotional overload. An intermediate state between sanity and madness - a temporary life preserving escape from more drastic measures/acts such as suicide, complete mental breakdown, etc.

And of course I can think of many other evolutionary significant reasons for wallowing in misery (not to mention, purely organic reasons such as mental disease, etc.), but in one form or another, I suppose, the whole thing basically boils down to the intricacies of interest-based survival maneuvers. The courage to take control of one’s existence (or if you like “God helps those who help themselves” to the faithful, or the Will to Power if you are into philosophy) is usually the only non-medical way out of wallowing, but that demands additional energy which a wallowing person may not be able or willing to muster (for one reason or another). Having said all that, the key factor in determining whether the wallowing is a normal case of the Blues (something all of us are susceptible to form time to time) or a more serious dysfunction is: “TIME”. The time and frequency in which one spends wallowing is the deciding factor in determining the degree of hopelessness involved vs. its potentially beneficial rewards.

Answer 2

Wallowing in misery does nothing but waste time.
The best way to go about things is to go forward.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't feel pain.
I'm saying that the more you realize the way things are,
and the less time you spend in a pool of self-pity,
the better off that you're going to be.

Always look forward, even if you hit rock bottom,
then you'll know that the only way is up from there.

Everyone needs a little time to recover.
But your goal should always be to get out of it.

If all you did with life is wallow around,
hating your position, then you'd never have time to fix it.

Answer 3

wallow in pain for awhile but yes, in the long run it does no one any good and just prolongs agony which is senseless...move on

Answer 4

Never wallow in your misery, always try to climb out! If you aren't trying for less misery, you will have more.

Answer 5

It can go either, neither, or both. Depends on the situation!