talking to therapists for work the past few weeks, one thing that stands out to me is how many people feel ashamed of their emotions because of how their circumstances compare to others in more vulnerable positions. and it's adding extra distress to an already awful situation.

one thing i'd love to see is less pressure to qualify your experiences/emotions with an assurance that yes, you now other people have it worse, and yes, you know it's "silly" to feel X about Y in the middle of a pandemic. that's not a great habit to fall into, mental health-wise.

it's also a habit that twitter encourages in general, making you feel like you have to cover the most basic thought or feeling from every angle to safeguard yourself against assholes in your mentions jumping in to make sure you've also considered X and Y.

so please default to empathy and don't tell people what they should and shouldn't be feeling right now. i know some people aren't sensitive to context and it can be enraging, but you can assume a lot of people are. let them express normal human feelings and express them yourself.

i see this a lot around positive feelings right now, too. people feel guilty about finding pockets of happiness or reasons to celebrate when the world is burning. that's why i love this piece @RyanHowesPhD wrote for us: https://www.self.com/story/moments-of-joy-in-pandemic