Comment by adamwong246
1 day ago
To live freely is reward enough. We born alone, die alone, and in between, more loneliness. No reason to pretend that your friends and family will be there for you, or that their approval will save you. Playing their social games will not garner you much.
Humans are a social species, and quality of relationships is consistently shown to correlate with mental health.
I've seen that in some cases the definition of mental health will explicitly score against things like "lacks close relationships" or "does not seek companionship". So it always seems to me a bit circular to just assert "being more social is more mentally healthy" when the definition of mental health bakes in "being very social".
If I were to define mental health to include "desires and enjoys spending lengths of time in solitude", then I could assert "Humans as a species crave solitude, mental health is shown to directly correlate with the drive and ability to be alone."
Why not define poor mental health as "puts a gun in mouth and pulls trigger" and then see if it correlates with things like "lacks close relationships". Probably a better method than 'making shit up as you go along' people that want to prove a particular point tend to do.
> We born alone
Most mammals are not born alone. And even after being born, humans especially, would die if left alone.