Three of this troper's friends lost parents before the kids were eleven years old. The saddest two stories: a 10-year-old boy's whose father had early-onset Alzheimer's so that eventually his father didn't recognize him anymore, and an 11-year-old girl whose father was killed in the civil war in Sudan. Both were remarkably non-angsty and back in class functioning at a high level, and seem very mature for their ages.

This troper's best friend is so frickin bubbly. Her brother was high on PCP, snapped, and beat his wife so she had to be hospitalized. The friend is fine, in school the next day smiling. People are harassing her? She laughs it off. You know this troper's friend is going through some REALLY tough stuff when she isn't smiling.

LadyBealzabub is like this a lot, but because she has the nasty nasty habit of swollowing her angst and refusing to vent in a failed attempt to be TheStoic. As a result she's a bit of a StepfordSmiler. :P (I fit the {{Deconstruction}} on the Playing With Page eerily well.)

This troper seems incapable of feeling angst.

This troper (and several of her friends) often refer to events in the past that make most people squirm. Casually reference a friend's death (But not out of disrespect. He would have wanted us to not be sad.), mention that time one of us tried to commit suicide or self-injury, almost gleefully reference past bullying and parental neglect, and much more. We don't try for attention, it's just that everything is in the past and it doesn't bother anyone anymore. Still, the degree of sociopathic glee we get when someone else freaks out isn't normal.

This troper's father tried to kill himself when she was fourteen. The only reason she doesn't tell people is that they immediately treat her like porcelain. It gets more awkward when she brings friends over, because this troper and her father (who's now completely fine) are close and often refer to it in a joking way.

Wait, your ''father'' attempted suicide, and people treat ''you'' like you'll snap at any time? To the best of my knowledge, suicide isn't hereditary.

Well, genetics =/= destiny, but it is true that people are far more likely to experience severe depression if it's in the family. And either way, most people would be... emotionally fragile after having something like that happen.

Yeah, that's why people tend to treat me like porcelain too- My father and his entire side of the family have a heavy genetic predisposition towards depression. I have downer moments, but I'm 19- its practically expected. The odd thing is, I'm the only freaking optimist out of my entire family on both sides; I'm about as far from depressed as you can get!

This troperette knows a girl whose best friend drowned saving her and she is doing OK and went jet-skiing in the same lake 2 days later. (Her explanation was that she had to get over her fear sometime and that her friend would have wanted her to.)

This troper used to angst a lot about some things (namely the fact that most people strongly dislike him on sight), but got over it. These days he doesn't think much about it and considers his aura of creepyness to be a natural part of him. He also doesn't tend to have very strong reactions to bad things happening to other people, but that's probably a direct result of him being a loner who doesn't really connect with others.

You may have mild Asperger's Syndrome--to most people, we fall in the UncannyValley, and difficulty with empathy is one of the two main signs. (The other, in case you're wondering, is difficulty expressing emotions. There are other, minor signs that add up to outweigh the main ones, though.)

This Troper eventually became a bit of an expert at detaching himself emotionally from situations after seeing what being jealous, nervous about grades/work, putting too much of yourself in something and caring too much about other people did to the people around him, he started to distance himself. It's worked well for him in general, although one sometimes creeps people out with how cool he is about issues that drive people up the wall.

So back when This Troper was eight or so, his parents had to pull him out of his Young Astronauts' Club trip to Kennedy Space Center to go visit some great-aunt or somesuch who wound up passing on that night. He was the only one who wasn't crying the next morning, primarily because he hadn't heard of her until that evening. Granted, this is far earlier than his descent into general misanthropy, but still...

I had to go to my great...something's funeral a few years ago, when I was 10. She had sent me clothes, but I never met her. While everyone was off bawling I'm like "*stands there awkwardly*"

When I was about 9, my dog died. I cried buckets. I've rarely cried since then, not even shedding a tear for the death of my Grandma's sister.

Averted in my case. My grandfather died on my birthday, and I seemed to be just fine all day. Until I snapped after a asshole boy in my class called another girl fat. Then things got unpleasant ''really fast.''

I'm a victim of incest, my mother kicked me out because she is a religious fanatic and thinks I'm posessed by Satan, most everyone in my family are drug-additcs/alcoholics and generally I have a DarkAndTroubledPast. These are things that don't really bother me at all.

I can "pretend" this trope, in the moment of crisis, even when I'm dying and crying like a little girl inside...

This troper lives this trope constantly. Not much phases you after you lose your best friend before the two of you are even five years old. But that's over and done with, the future awaits!

This one has recently found herself openly talking about some very dark moments in her life as if they were nothing. Although for the past two years, said dark moments were always in her shadows. She must have gotten over it, with the help of her stolen mantras.

Averted(?) in this troper's case. I have Asperger's Syndrome, almost as by the book as one can be. However, due to the fact that I grew up in a small town, almost everybody knew me and knew all my quirks. Often times, I would forget that I had AS myself. This changed when I went to college. I now constantly find myself at a disadvantage in many conversations, and often have to restrain myself from snapping at people when they say something that offends me, but I know they might only be joking. It's gotten to the point that I worry about it more than I ever did back home.

This troper has found himself in very similar situations as yourself in the past, as he suffers from a very mild case of {{Asperger Syndrome}} himself {or having NoSocialSkills.) I, however, have learned to look past it and simply gained enough confidence and social skills to NEVER find myself disadvantaged in a conversation, even with my shy and accomodating personality. Know that you do not suffer alone, as he sympathizes deeply with your situation and hopes that you triumph over it someday. *hug*

This troper was an orphan for six years and went through some really rough times. She now finds it extremely hard to trust grownups who look and act like the typical orphanedge-employee, was for a long time unable to show her feelings on her face, like smiling because she felt happy and wanted to smile instead of being happy and smiling because she was happy, but she's always been a very happy person, even when she was going through all that crap.

This troper has a tendency to gravitate towards jolly content. Parents getting divorced? Initial shock, moments thought: "eh, I saw that coming. Back to the internet." Dog died? Initial shock, half an hour alone: "Oh well, C'est la vie, or well, the lack thereof. Bleeding shame though." Not that I don't care, it's just I have a real difficult time being in any sort of negative emotion for more than an hour.

At one point in my life, I thought there wasn't really much that could get to me. Then I got slapped by a sudden outburst of my (previously unknown) anxiety disorder (which involved me being afraid to leave my house for 3 months, but I hid it from everyone pretty well). Having overcome feeling constant (albeit totally irrational) fear of death, not much can really faze me at this point.

This troper used to angst about everything, such as being an outcast, but then her brother become a junkie, and, oddly enough, everything felt better due to an emotional disconnect from anything that could be classified as painful. Downside? Can't relate to anyone about emotions, has trouble feeling, and more or less spends her time in mild confusion, wondering why people get emotional over small things like losing their dog, to the point where she didn't care that her favorite uncle attempted suicide. Huh. What is this "angst" you speak of?

This Trooper doesn't cry at funerals. I still feel rather odd when I realize my sister misses my distant grandfather that died two years ago. I used to think there was something really wrong with me. Then I decided that I just didn't grieve that way.

This Troper is living proof that Catholic school sucks when you're an out-of-wedlock child in a developing country. One of my favorite stories to tell is the time when I got pushed down a flight of stairs by a boy in my 6th grade class. Oh, she also developed Trichotillomania at age thirteen, so she had to cut off all her hair. At age sixteen, she singlehandedly (ThereAreNoTherapists in my CrapsackWorld) wrestled her Trich under control, and if asked about her childhood? "It was nice! I had a lot of interesting adventures~!". I don't believe in moping about your troubles or misfortunes. You face them head-on, with pride, and hope for the best every day.

This troper's life is a {{Deconstruction}} of the {{Shrinking Violet}}/{{Yamato Nadeshiko}}, as he has led a life of being bullied, shunned, and ostracized by many people whom he has crossed paths with because of his innate kindness, and yet thinks nothing of it. Even in the face of hatred, I still think highly enough of people and still seek to make friends with everyone, even those who have previously wronged me. ^_^

This Troper has Asperger's so it might not be that much of this. But, he was in love with a girl. They gave each other notes. Well he gave her notes and she responded. But anyways, about a couple months later, he asked if she felt the same way. She said she was "too young" to feel those emotions. He remembers looking at the note, frowning, smiling, ''laughing'' and then coming up with a little philosophical phrase for the situation. The phrase was "You can love someone the first moment of life, but true love takes a while."

I have trouble talking about emotional stuff, I rarely get too upset when something bad happens, and find it hard to talk to people if they bring up emotional subjects as I just dont know what to say...usually I just go with "Sorry to hear that" or something. There are only a few exceptions to this, and they are the three best friends I have, who are the rare few people I can stand to be around for a long time. I still dont know how to put my feelings into words when things happen to them, but I feel sorry for them and feel sad if something happens to them, and just end up hugging them (I normally dont hug others, so it must be something special!) One of my best friends seems to have the saddest life possible, after being abused by an ex boyfriend, having health problems and her best friend committed suicide due to bullying about 4 years ago. She is one of the happiest people I have known, and always makes me smile. She has no problem talking about the horrible things that happened in the past, and rarely gets upset about it. Ive never seen cry over anything thats happened.

This Troper is an aloof schizoid, during his father's wake he played D&D. Sure, it's sad to lose your father when you have 14 years, but it's no reason to mope around.

This Troper has cerebral palsy and is confined to wheelchair, he had four surgeries and his mum was killed by a drunk driver in 2008 while they were out for a walk. He was hit by the car too and almost died. However, he is a CloudCuckoolander who uses HypocriticalHumor and is always cheerful.

Well I feel uncomfortable posting this, but um...I was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was 16 and a few months later I saw this article of a chick who had it and acted like it was the end of the goddamn world. Her reaction pissed me off, because...well, it's not the end of the world. Jesus.

However, when a family member or pet dies I'll angst about it for a short time (one time a 4 week-old kitten we had been taking care of died in his sleep and I stopped crying in like...an hour) then get over it. Of course, it's possible I repressed it. I think I repress a lot of things. The epilepsy thing is just whatever, though.

I actually got diagnosed with depression by a psychologist, which was strange, as I didn't feel sad all the time, although I had in the past. Just had a lot of moodswings. And as I plodded on with the psychologist, I actually felt better, yet the 'test scores' said I was getting worse. And truer to this trope, I consistently don't react emotionally to most things. I don't actually feel much at all (most of my emotional spectrum seems to be missing) so when I do angst over stuff, I'm very relieved that I might not be totally fucked up, even if I despair of it at the same time (my childhood was unpleasant, and if you had an emotion that was troublesome, it was either exploited or ripped out, usually by yourself due to the non-reactions of others and the fact it hurt quite a bit. Then I wonder why I can't feel properly anymore and have so much trouble coping with reality...Goddammit...)

The happiest girl in the world is in this tropers class. I have never met a friendlier, more fun-loving girl in my entire life. Turns out her parents are alcoholics and she's tried for seven years to get a foster family. Does that stop her from living her life? No, doesn't seem that way.

I played this straight when I was a kid. After my parents divorced when I was 6 years old, the guidance counselor at my new school treated me like I was glass, about to break at any second. But, I had gotten my little cry out when my parent's told me, and didn't understand her worry. However, it's become somewhat deconstructed/subverted now. I'm now a 16-year-old girl who plays with being a StepfordSmiler and TheStoic due to various circumstances that happened soon afterwords the aforementioned divorce.

Well, my grand grandmother died when I was at least 5 years old, then when I was 11 my grandfather died; two years later I was raped by so-called friends, harassed by my classroom teacher who had the idea that I was the problematic one even when I was TheStoic; half year later my father died from cancer followed by my mother three years later with a more severe case of cancer. My dad even called me from the hospital to wish me a happy birthday. My family are still fazed by the fact that I'm still a CloudCuckooLander even when watching the news (mainly cars accident, suicides, murder, etc,), also the psychologist from my school told me I was crazy.

This Troper neither feels nor really understands depression, despair, or grief. His normal reaction when something bad happens is along the lines of "Well. Crap. Okay then. Who's up for a game of Scrabble?" He's not otherwise TheStoic or any such thing; he just doesn't get deeply upset. Apparently it runs in the family - one of his uncles is very much the same.

This Troper. Bipolar mother (who is most definitely not this trope, which annoys him to no end)? Meh. Great-grandfather died? Well, it's not like I knew him anyway. He has a hard time feeling even the slightest bit sad unless he thinks about sad things - which he doesn't, because why bother?

This Troper... freaking Zig-Zags this trope. One day I might try and push aside all my despair and angst (and there's quite a bit.) and try and go through the day without telling a soul, but most other days I might just fully and openly admit that I am sad and I'd tell people about it.

AWA is this troper's policy. Most of my angst is the romantic kind, but one of my life's mottos is "They'd want you to move on" whether it's a rejection or a dead relative (thankfully I almost never get the latter). So maybe mine counts as a subversion? AWA but I never get to use it... not that I should be complaining about that ^.^

This troper has been made to feel as if she's the only one other than Eleanor Roosevelt who actually ''believes'' that no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Yes, she was bullied horrifically her entire school career and even still is by random morons in her sh*thole town. Yes, every self-help book and website about bullying harp on low self-esteem and depression, but she has neither. She is ''not. in. denial!'' Sometimes, this trope is actually true and people don't feel angst about things that most others do! AUUUUGH! Also loners are NOT freaks, and do the people who say that this troper must feel rejected and lonely and angsty ever think that she doesn't because she's an ''actual'' loner and not just shy or unconfident...? (Hint: the answer is that real loners don't exist, of course! /bitter sarcasm)