The Grass Is Always Greener

You know how the saying goes...the grass is always greener on the other side.  We all think it, and we all think that our own lives are the hardest of everyone's.  But I hope that everyone is acutely aware that that's bullshit.  Unfortunately, people are ignorant and selfish and too caught up in their own lives to believe that other people have problems, too.  I encountered this very situation today:

My roommate complains about her practice schedule (athletics) quite frequently, which is fine because we all need something to complain about, but when I mentioned that I have a huge 2 hour chemistry exam (graduate level actually) on Saturday morning and then an (impossible) pchem lab report due on Monday followed by another impossible 2 hour chemistry exam Thursday, she told me she would rather take the exam.  To each their own, I guess, but it was the way she said it and her words surrounding the statement that blew me away.  She informed me that she would rather be mentally tired than physically.  Fuck that.  Here's the thing, I get that she has practice all the time and it's difficult, excruciating, and painful...I know this because I did it for the first two and a half years of college as well so I'm not ignorant.  But she has never had a four hour chemistry midterm (not even the final exam), has never spent 8 hours studying in a single day only to find that you still don't understand what the hell is going on and could have just not studied at all and ended with the same result, has never spent an entire night without sleep, or spent more nights in the library or classroom than in her own bed.

I would never say her life is easy because it's not.  Being a varsity athlete is hard, and injuries are frequent and miserable.  But I think it's extremely unfair for her to judge me like that and to imply that I have it better.  And it's not just her, it's anyone.  We should never believe that the grass really is greener or that someone else's problems are less than our own.  We all have different problems, and we all lead different lives.  And at the end of the day when I empathize with her about her back being sore, I don't think it's fair that I get no response in return when I mention that my brain feels like it's bleeding (literally) because I've been studying for more than 12 hours for a subject that most people struggle with in high school.  And my brain isn't going to rest because then I have a lab report, another exam, then another lab report, then five finals (three of which are chemistry).

Funny how when I feel about to explode at her, I just mutter, "I hate my life," and she laughs.  She thought I was joking.

And as a little disclaimer, I like my roommate a lot; this is just a rant because my day has been shit enough as it is.  It's human nature to be selfish, which is why I don't like most people.  Just try to remember as you go about your day and complain as people all do that you shouldn't try to make your problems "outdo" other people's.  We all deserve a release; I just wish someone would listen to me for once.