When you feel bad, does it help to see someone who has a much worse problem?

No, but it makes me feel bad about what else is going on.

I just wish my problems were as small as spilled wine.

I don’t know if it makes me feel better about the problem, but it does put things into perspective and make me feel fortunate.

I’d still be really bummed about my favorite chair (or whatever), and accept that in my blessed life it’s a fairly big deal.

I have someone in my life who pushes the point about how lucky I am. My apartment flooded about a year ago. I called this person in tears, and after about 1 minute of sympathy she started telling me how in the grand scheme of things this is a non-problem, etc. Yeah, I get it. And I consider myself to be lucky despite the flood now (I had a place to go, people and skills to help me, etc). But in my life, it’s huge.

It doesn’t make me feel better, but it does make me see things in perspective.
When i was younger and had to visit the dentist to get some holes filled, i was pretty nervous and a little scared.
Shallow though it seems, it helped me calm myself when i was in that chair, mouth open, when i was thinking that there are loads of people who don’t even have the opportunity to go see a dentist at all, let alone getting their teeth fixed.
It helped.
I still use this tactic, if need be.

Well at least I’m not a shoes salesman…

Never. I feel bad for them, but it doesn’t make me feel my problem any less. And I especially hate when people try to cheer me up by telling me how others have it worse.

It helps to put things in perspective.
When wine is spilled on a chair, you can be thankful that you have a place of your own which is sheltered from the elements where you can have a chair, much less wine to spill on it. Between the home, chair and wine, you’re doing pretty well.

I can’t drink wine any longer.

Misery loves company.

No but it gives me a kick in the pants to “get on with it”.

I feel like No is the more socially appropriate response, but if I’m being completely honest, then yes, it does make me feel better to see people worse off than me.

It’s not that I’m glad someone has bigger problems, it just makes mine seem smaller and more manageable.

I had a buddy that used to joke that when he felt bad about his life, he would go on craigslist and laugh at all of the personals/escorts trying to make money off of selling themselves.

I certainly dont feel better about myself hearing that people lost their homes or even lost their families or lives – I feel worse and worry about my own. On the other hand, it helps to have a friend or someone in a similar situation just to talk and provide support (vise verse).

people are like slinkys. They seem to have no real use, but they both make you smile when you see them going down the stairs

Yes. I taped all the Sally Struthers commercials to cheer me up when I’m blue.

Yes and no. It makes me appreciate what I have and realize my petty problems are really rather insignificant. In that aspect, it makes me feel better.

On the other hand, it makes me feel worse because I am forced to face some truly awful situations people must deal with in this world. It also makes me ashamed that I am still usually upset about my trivial little problems anyway.

Everything is perspective.

but what i really enjoy is reminding others about other peoples’ suffering whenever they whine. it makes me look smart.~

Pretty much exactly what @Supacase said. I am Super Empathy Girl, so when I see people with huge problems, I take on their worry and suffering as if it were my own. In that sense, it makes me feel much worse!

Yes… because I can put my issues in perspective and see the good things in my life more clearly. I don’t believe in a deity, but I do often say, “There but for the grace of God go I” since I could just as easily be facing a major tragedy as the next person. I have had to deal with a lot of adversity in my life, but all things considered, I consider myself very fortunate.

@jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities Actually, I feel like saying yes is more socially appropriate. When I was thinking about this q I really thought the answer “should” be “yes, when I see others suffering I feel better because I know my problems are petty.” Instead, I would totally cry over wine spilled on a chair, which I think makes me seem ungrateful.

It does help. We live paycheck to paycheck, but when I see that many people are losing their homes due to foreclosure I am grateful that we at least have a home.

No and speaking for people who have obvious disabilities, we resent the assumption that our lives are sad or pitiful. Certainly it is insulting to be used in someone’s fantasy of being ‘better off’ than we are!

It might. A headache from a hangover suddenly seems insignificant compared to a headache from a brain tumor.