Do you Revel in the Sour?

The rain. Sometimes it gives me the blues. When you first came here, I only loved the writer part of Paul Sheldon. Now I know I love the rest of him, too. I know you don't love me, don't say you do. You're beautiful, brilliant, a famous man of the world and I'm... not a movie star type. You'll never know the fear of losing someone like you if you're someone like me.

Annie, Stephen King's Misery

The old adage "misery loves company" seems to be at play more and more. Is it just that we are more aware or just less distracted? With more layoffs, less jobs, and more and more people searching for simpler forms of happiness it could just be that we are able to see things without materialistic glasses in the way. Or, do you just not want to be alone in your suffering?

Stanley Schachter, a Columbia University psychologist, conducted a famous experiment years ago with female college students: telling them they would be receiving electric shocks. Based on feedback from the students, the more anxious they were about the shocks, the more they told researchers they wanted to wait with other people for the experiment to start. More interesting, they did not want to wait with just anyone -- they wanted to be with people who faced the same fate.

“Misery doesn’t love just any kind of company,” Schachter said, “it loves only miserable company. Whatever the needs aroused by the manipulation of anxiety, it would seem that their satisfaction demands the presence of others in a similar situation.”

Which brings me to my next point: does misery truly love company, or does misery make company equally miserable? (And in the same respect, does the inverse apply?) How many times have you been having an awful day only to have a good friend turn it around? Or had a great day only to have that 'negative Nancy' bring down your mood?

There is no true answer to these questions since they are all of a personal nature. For me, I read more, watch less dramatic movies and more comedies, write more, and avoid situations that stress me out (when possible). Another big one is spending more face-time with my friends. I'll elaborate more on that soon ...