being around people who don't understand you

I think it can be tolerable if there's at least *one* person somewhere in your life who you feel 'gets' you. But when there's no one? I think every interaction can then become painful, excruciating, fingernails on chalkboard, salt in the wound... because all the backlog can't ever come out. And this crazy idea that some random peson (aka, shrink) is going to understand you just because you're paying them a lot of money? Is bullshit. (I think the letdown from going to a meeting with a shrink with the expectation - or even the hope - that you'll find something you haven't been able to find elsewhere is almost sadistic in its potential to re-traumatize someone whose whole problem is the lack of experiencing a true meeting of the minds.)

I keep seeing over and over again how a person who was struggling and struggling suddenly is able to turn it around and overcome their obstacles because one person was there for them when they most needed support, and the supporter really understood what was needed and gave that thing unstintingly until the struggling person was actually steady on their feet and able to make it on their own. In other words, the supporting person stuck around long enough to actually see it through, so that the person who was in trouble was able to focus on learning what they needed to learn and not focus on 'looking good' or appearing to have it together, which is the biggest, most complete and total waste of time imaginable.

More often than not I think people get stuck, not because they can't do the thing that needs doing (although there are certainly plenty of people who have *that* hurdle as well), but because they don't have the infrastructure that allows them to get it done - time, money, enough space, the right materials and tools, someone around to help them if they need another pair of hands or an extra brain to brainstorm with.