Adventures in Psychotropia

I've had trouble sleeping lately. I've had trouble doing a lot of things, actually. I read my horoscope today, which forewarned that "if things are going lousy, get ready for disaster." Awesome. So life has decided to take a big dump on me right now. That's cool. I get it. What doesn't kill me will make me stronger - unless I find a foolproof method for slitting my wrists (results not guaranteed). And so, I've been forced by my own contempt for pitiable characters to take a vested interest in my own happiness. Lame.
Since the pharmaceutical industry has found a way of marketing happiness, and because as Americans we live to achieve success before pleasure, happiness has become an obsession - a glowing fruit on the highest branch that our fingers might brush as we reach for it. The idea is that anyone can reach true happiness if they work hard enough to deserve it. With self-help and the power of positive thinking being the ultimate manifestation of the American independent spirit, we've been conditioned to rely on ourselves to find happiness, and to punish ourselves when that pursuit fails.
Let me just say that this is dumb. I refuse to believe that anyone can do this on their own. Without anyone to see me succeed or fail, I cease to exist.
And so, I feed my head with a healthy dose of Venlafaxine - one of many stimulants (see: Methamphetamine) meant to assist in the treatment of clinical depression. Yes, I take uppers daily and so do millions all over the world, and that's not including recreational use. And this is just to achieve a sense of normalcy - we're not talking hightened mood or awareness; simply the ability to get out of bed and go about one's day.
Yeah. That's not weird. I propose that something is missing here and it ain't happiness. Medicine is a bandaid that attempts to fix the larger problem that is isolation in an individualistic society. I'm not gonna get all hippy-dippy here, but when a person realizes that they are an integral part of someone else's happiness, personal fulfillment seems so much smaller in comparison.