This is how I measure pain:

If it hurts, it is "worthy" of being addressed and fixed.
There is no pain lesser or greater than another. Pain is pain.

How do you measure the pain felt of a teenager breaking up with their first boyfriend/girlfriend to know if it is lesser, the same, or greater than the woman who just watched her son take his last breath, for example? You can't. Most will assume the teen's problem is lesser - yet, there are many teens who either attempt or succeed at suicide for that reason, while the mother, though very distraught and bereaved may have had enough time to "prepare" for this possible eventuality that it doesn't send her into such a downward spiral.

So .. you ask are your problems valid.

My answer is all problems are valid - if they cause you pain.

❤

If anyone judges you for asking for help to fix your pain - that's on them, not you. I won't feed you fancy lines of "that's because they are afraid to ask for help" or etc - bc for some, it may not be true. But it will always be true they chose to judge and/or belittle you for asking for help. It will also always be true you neither did nor said anything to cause them to make that decision. The point is - you can only control you. They can only control them. If you try to control them it will lead to fustration, anger, disappointment, depression, and a whole host of other negative emotions in the long run - bc while you may succeed at controlling them sometimes, you will not do so all the time. So - concentrate on what you can control all the time - you, and don't allow the decisions of others to deter your own.