As a person who has been living in a high level of physical pain every single day for almost a year, and on and off for decades, but who is young(ish) and "looks fine," I've heard this a lot. "Well it could be worse. It could be cancer..." In fact in 2 days, I'm going to find out if it is cancer.

But my point is that I've realized something critical. Everyone is going thru something. Every.Single.One.of.Us. And it is all relative. To me, my life is hard right now. Maybe you, whoever reads this, is going through a hard time. Who has the right to compare our hardships? Or the gall? It's the classic "walk a mile in my shoes." Or your shoes. Or the child in Ethiopia's.

So for me anyway, I figure I'm the only person who has the right to minimize my own pain by saying that "It could be worse." And sometimes, when I tell myself that, it actually helps me. But when someone else says it to me, well - How dare they presume to know what I (or you or anyone else) is going through. Again, we all have our battles to fight. And they are unique and therefore incomparable to anyone elses.