[JadeNB]

> Meanwhile, my typical peer has a functioning family unit, and has enjoyed a relatively struggle-free existence.

Are you sure about this? I know that I enjoyed a relatively struggle-free existence, and assumed that most other people did. But, whenever I have taken the time to get to know someone really well, I have found that they had struggles beyond anything I had to handle, and that do not reveal themselves at all until you know them very well.

[soulofmischief]

That's a valid question, but I don't know how to answer it without going into great depth rehashing stuff I've said on here before as well as stuff I haven't. Suffice to say that my Adverse Childhood Experiences score is quite high, and that my life has been marked by a series of unfortunate experiences which I have found myself unable to relate with the vast majority of my peers over.

And I have tried. The older I get, the more it just looks like PTSD when I do try and relate with people. That doesn't mean that each of them haven't had their share of struggles, it just seems like a magnitude or more less for the majority of folk I know.

The difference in current struggle has dropped off a bit in the last few years because life has been getting rough for everyone outside the wealthy class, but the majority of my life was absolute hell. The first time I put a gun in my mouth and sat with a finger on the trigger, I was nine years old.