One good listener

For the past 9 years, everyone is like: "You're depressed."  "You should exercise more." "You should rest more."  "You should eat more meat."  "You should be more vegetarian."  "You should be gluten free."  "You should get a more challenging job."  "You should retire and not have any job."  "You should be grateful for your job."  "You should go out more, be more adventurous."  "You should take more medications."  "You should take fewer medications."

It's like being under siege.  I have one friend who doesn't do it.  He's the only person in the world who knows how to behave.  Even professional counselors don't know how to behave.

He said it is because he has so many medical issues and doesn't like to be told what to do.  I told him most of  the people who tell me what to do have medical issues too.  In particular, I mentioned parents.  I said, "Parents think that because you were a baby once, that you don't know anything.  They think they have to tell you what to do."   I commented on how parents don't like to get advice from their parents, so you would think they would know people don't like to get advice from parents, and they wouldn't give advice to their kids.  My friend explained, "There's blinders for that."

I am so grateful to have one good friend.