This, and also not “doing drugs” and going to college are also difficult. Mind altering substances can become a normalized part of social interaction (I live in America and my favorite illustration of this is talking about caffeine. Sure, the chance of developing an addiction is lower, and the consequences of a dependency are less severe, but telling a kid “don’t have caffeine ever, it’s bad” is just insane, they might be able to avoid it for a while but the environment itself is trying to shove it down our throats).
College doesn’t have the same issue but it’s got its own set of issues. And all three of those things become more difficult when you stack their problems.
Framing things as either falling into “a choice” vs “not a choice” ignores the fact that pretty much all things have at least some elements of it that we can and can’t control.
Is “don’t suffer major depression” supposed to be useful advice?
Yes, because there are ways to avoid and navigate major depression. Better to learn them in times of peace than in the middle of war.
Please share
I ain’t saying it’s easy. Sometimes it’s simple, but simple doesn’t mean easy.
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-avoid-depression
This, and also not “doing drugs” and going to college are also difficult. Mind altering substances can become a normalized part of social interaction (I live in America and my favorite illustration of this is talking about caffeine. Sure, the chance of developing an addiction is lower, and the consequences of a dependency are less severe, but telling a kid “don’t have caffeine ever, it’s bad” is just insane, they might be able to avoid it for a while but the environment itself is trying to shove it down our throats).
College doesn’t have the same issue but it’s got its own set of issues. And all three of those things become more difficult when you stack their problems.
Framing things as either falling into “a choice” vs “not a choice” ignores the fact that pretty much all things have at least some elements of it that we can and can’t control.