nothing cares about you by default

during a typical childhood, you become accustomed to those around you caring about you by default.

your family (usually) cares about you for no other reason than because you exist. the teachers you spend every weekday with (usually) act like they want you to succeed.

you're taught by everything and everyone around you that you're Special, you're Not Like Everyone Else. you assume this statement is correct, because why would the people who clearly care about you possibly tell such a lie?

eventually, you grow up and you learn how the world works.
you get your heart broken, and learn that unconditional love is a fairytale. everything is conditional.
you learn how systems and incentives work, and discover that the appearance of caring is bought and sold.

you discover that you aren't exceptional. you're just like everyone else, unless you move the impossibly large mountains necessary to set yourself apart (or just manage to win the lottery of life). and, it turns out that there's a lot of "everyone else" in this world.

you inevitably have bad things happen to you, and you realize that nobody cares by default. empathy has it's limits, and these limits are highly variable and unintuitive. chances are, crying at the grocery store because your card declined is just going to make people tell you to shut the fuck up.

care is a limited resource, just like any other, and must be treated as such. you're not an exception to this.

some people learn these lessons a bit too late, because internalizing them is deeply unpleasant.

people badly want to believe a more hopeful story, one where they just have to wait for something or someone else to save them from their fate. saving yourself is scary and difficult, wouldn't it be so much easier if somebody else could just do it for me?

but, reality does not care what you believe about it. it simply is.
and, the sooner you realize this, the sooner you can start digging yourself out of the hole you're in.

no one is coming to save you; you have to save yourself.