They Are Struggling And You Don’t Even See It

The people with the biggest problems are often the people who appear perfectly fine.

The people who go to work and smile so wide that you don’t realize they are faking it.

The people who ask you how you’re doing to avoid talking about themselves.

The people who only give you small, exciting tidbits about their life so that you never realize the rest of their life is falling apart.

They are the people who post cute pictures on Instagram because when they have one moment of happiness, when they have one photo that shows them smiling for real, they want to share it with the world.

You would never realize these people are suffering, because they have somehow found a way to stay productive through the pain. They still walk to class and hand in their assignments. They still get to work on time and do what they are expected to do. They still go out with friends and act like everything is normal.

When they are out in public, they put on a play. They act like they are okay.

When they leave the house, they don’t let anyone know it’s the first time they washed their hair in days, that it’s the first time they got out of their pajamas in a full week, that it’s the first time they’ve smiled since the last time they left the house.

These people don’t want to bother anyone else, so they stuff their emotions down their chest.

These people don’t want to ruin your night out, so they fake laughs and tell funny stories.

These people don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, so they say what you want to hear instead of telling the ugly truth.

These people don’t want to admit they are having trouble, they don’t want to reach out for help, so they let their problems snowball.

You have no idea they are secretly struggling, which is why you don’t think twice about the way you treat them.

When you complain about something small, they want to yell at you about how you don’t know how good you have it, about how they have it so much worse, but they stay quiet. They nod and listen and act like you are saying something reasonable.

When you get mad at them for ignoring your texts for days, they apologize instead of explaining how they could barely find the energy to open their eyes, let alone answer your messages.

When you joke around about how weird they are acting, they will lie about not feeling well instead of telling you how they barely slept — and how it doesn’t even matter, because they would still feel exhausted even if they get eight hours of rest.

Some people who are going through hell look like they are doing perfectly fine. Someone people who are going through hell never wear their pain on their face. Some people who are going through hell are around you right now — so treat them with kindness. Don’t make their life even harder than it already is.