touch grass speedrun: a philosophical guide to why ur miserable

You can walk through someone’s life and find out if they are reasonably embedded in a hierarchy of social institutions. If they are not — no intimate partner, no family, no children, no friends, no job, no career, no educational pathway, no engagement in civic responsibility, no church attendance, no spiritual life, no routine — then they are not depressed; they just have a horrible life, multidimensionally. It is no wonder they think they are depressed; there is nothing in their life that is working. But that is not exactly a diagnosis at the level of the individual; it is a diagnosis of the relationship between the individual and the structure containing social institutions. If you do not have an intimate partner, a family, any friends, a career or a job, any civic involvement or any involvement with religious institutions, and no creative striving, all you have left is pain. That is what you have.