58 thoughts on “Help”

  2. You draw the most heart-warming comics on the whole Internet. This is already one reason to be happy :) And with your stories you make hundreds of happysad people just happy from time to time!

  7. Hi Jeroen,

    I’m Hena – a fan of yours from India. I don’t know why you are sad right now, but here’s me hoping that you are happy once again and that more people come to cheer you up :)

    *HUG* Keep looking for a silver lining – it’ll come when the sunlight reflects off you, onto that dark cloud.

  8. Hey, don’t be (too) sad! Here in Italy I’ve never met so many pretty girls like in your strips… You’re very lucky, but you don’t know it! :-)

    By the way I’ve read all Happysad strips at once, and I’m thinking about translate them in italian… Do you think is possible?

  14. You do a LOT to keep other people happy… I’m really sorry I don’t have your skills to return the favor. Anyway, I really want you to know that your work is great and it means a lot to me and quite a few people I know.

    And to cheer you up, please visit this website (I have no idea whose it is) with tons of strips of Calvin & Hobbes…
    http://www.rabittooth.com/calvinsm.htm

  18. Jeroen! Your comic is one of the best (if not THE BEST) comic on the Internet! They mean A LOT to A LOT of people! Keep up the good work!

    Hope you’ll find something that will cheer you up!

  22. Let me go against the current here, and say that being sad is part of being human. If you really, really [i]need[/i] to be sad then don’t hold it in.

    Sometimes it helps to force yourself to cry yourself silly, until it gets ridiculous; and then it’s not so bad. I really think that crying is a necessary part of the process of feeling better.

    Just my 0.02€ !

  23. When I saw your comic first I felt like you where drawing them just for me. Like you drawed my self screaming “Tell me about it!” and stuff like this.

    I can try to desribe:
    It was like the answer to feelings, which almost drove me crazy at that time.
    When I feel bad your work can lift me up sometimes.
    Many people can do this.

    But you make me feel special when I’am telling myself like this:
    “Maybe the world is not that insane. Maybe you are.”
    It’s so awestrucking how successful you do this,
    without even knowing me .
    The way how I stumbled over your Art was special too.
    Your Art was to me like an untold door wich flashed my life just in the right moment. I will not feel alone any longer.

    I don’t think that you want to,
    but you could be damn holy proud.
    That should cheer you up longer than tonight.

    You gave a magic boost to my awareness.
    Thank you Jeroen!

  25. Here’s a little joke that hopefully will help (and not make things worse…)

    Q: What did the grape say when he got squished?
    A: He didn’t say anything, but let out a little whine.

    *hugs* Feel better!

  27. Hey friend, we all love your work, one of the best on the net! We all spent hours reading the archive and wait for another comic to pop up. I bet you are as good as your work :) Cheer friend… You should know that we all love you very much :)

  28. You know Ive been around your site for years now… You are an amazing artist and you have a good head on your shoulders. I know you will do great things in this life. Rock most on.

  30. Cheer Up, man!
    Get some sleep, have a nice breakfast, maybe a good book – tomorrow it’ll be different, at least in some way. And hey, You got at least one of “LIfe’S big things” naild – you got recogniozed by the internet. XKCD (i think) has the other two great things…

  31. I’m sorry you feel so bad! Feel what you feel, cry if you need to, it’s part of being alive and like all the other emotions this will also pass, till it does be extra kind to yourself and take care. I hope it passes quickly for you. I’m sending hugs and thanks for your fantastic cartoons!
    (((((hugs))))) xxx

  38. And another hugs from Poland! You know they say that there is nothing better than a girl from Poland (right, Joanna? :) )… you are most creative man I ever knew that can write such amazing things surrounding the topic of relationships. You wouldn’t know how many people read your comics because of the links I send them every time you publish sth :))) You have a fan! woman fan! living hell far away but come on, you could be a little bit enthusiastic about it. just a little, tiny, eensy weensy. ohhh alright. no is no. not that I’m going to leave and never come back again. but you are feeling better now, couple hours after the crisis? hope so. again, hugs, kisses and love ;)

  40. I’d like to go outside, walking and talking with you all night long until you feel better, but unfortunately I’m living in France…

    Hope you’ll soon feel better. :)

  41. I’d have you over for a beer and some good movies and company, but it may be difficult for you to get all the way to Brisbane in Australia.

    But hey, if it cheers you up, you don’t live in what people call the arse-hole of the universe. The amazing thing is that we proudly call it that!

    I hope you do feel better soon – I’ve been with my partner for a year today and she has bipolar (manic depression), so I know how tough it can be for people sometimes, and how suddenly you can feel sad.

    Let me know if I can help :)

  43. There is a song i know wich says something like
    (its samba, a kind of music…)

    ”
    It’s better being happy than sad
    Happiness is the best thing there is
    It is like a light inside your heart

    To make graceful samba though
    it takes a little of sadness
    otherwise you can’t make samba, you can’t

    It’s like loving a woman who is only beautiful
    A woman must have
    Anything beyond beauty
    Anything sad
    Anything you can miss
    [...]
    Some beauty came from sadness
    Of being woman
    Made only to love
    To suffer for love
    And forgiving

    [...]
    Because samba is a waving sadness
    And sadness comes with hope
    Sadness come with hope
    Of someday don’t be sad anymore

    It’s better being happy than sad
    Happiness is the best thing there is
    It is like a light inside your heart
    “

  45. you’re great. smile, even if its just to make them wonder what you have to smile about. ten you can smile because you fooled them.

    we still have that cartoon. we printed it out and put it in a frame. it is still awesome, and you are still awesome.

    thank you for speaking to my soul, and i hope that my comment makes you happier, because you’ve definitely improved my life, even if just this little bit :)

    riddle: what is brown and sticky?

    answer backwards: kcits nworb a haha

  46. Hey,

    I hope that you feel better soon, your work is amazing and I hope that you find something that makes you happy. We all love you even without knowing you. I’m happy that I discovered your work it was fun to see some of my feelings on paper like that. But feel sad for what ever time you need to, just remmember that there is a group of people that care for you, we might have never met, but we still care for you.

    Hug!!!!

  47. Hi Jeroen,

    Don’t know what to say to cheer you up. I just hope you get better soon.

    I know many people will hate me for saying this, but I need to give you a little advice: If you really want to be happy, think about stopping this comic. I’ve been thinking about it and here’s how I think it works:

    1st. You feel sad
    2nd. You draw a comic, to handle your sadness
    3rd. People on the internet like it and appreciate your work
    4th. You appreciate their appreciation and it gives you self esteem
    5th. Part of your self esteem is now dependent on your sad feelings!

    If I am right, giving up this comic means that you will miss the grateful and funny reactions of so many people, but also that you don’t depend on your sadness anymore. What’s worth more to you?

    Look at so many great artists. People all over the world admire them because of their paintings full of emotions, or their songs about their feelings. But in spite of all the adoration of fans, the artist is still alone and lonely. It’s a vicious circle, I hope you’re aware of that.

    I hope I’m not too harsh. But I don’t want to enjoy your sadness. If you are an unhappy man, I don’t want to laugh about the comics you write to handle that. Get better soon!

    Blessings,

    JIPPUS

  48. Wie nooit triestig is, kan zelfs niet appreciëren wat het is om gelukkig te zijn. Het vraagt moed om te durven voelen. En het maakt u sterk. Wat nu een tegenslag lijkt, wordt morgen een opportuniteit. Take it easy in the meanwhile …

  49. Wow… I’m speechless. I never expected that much reactions. You are all really amazing! Thank you, all of you. I’m still a bit miserable after a restless night, but your comments are helping me feel better.

    On the positive side: I haven’t drawn them yet, but I feel quite a lot of new cartoons coming up.

    That’s why I have to say something particularly to Jippus. You do have a strong and valid point. In fact, you’re preempting a cartoon I was planning to draw about that. It’s possible that it partly works that way. But those feelings were there also before I started drawing Happysad, so I’m not sure if quitting would actually make me that much happier.
    Shit still happens, regardless.

    Anyway, thanks again everyone. I do have the most awesome fans! :)

  50. It doesn’t take much to be someone special

    You know that bit from the top of your page, it’s true, you ARE someone special, most of us have at one time or another felt exactly like your Little Dude, and your cartoons speak to us.

    That makes you enormously special, and worthwhile AND amazing.

    I’m glad you’re feeling a bit better, hang in there.

    A dedicated fan from Australia!

  51. Shit happens Jeroen.Regardless of country.

    I’m in a rather similar emotional state and I can’t draw for shit so that kinda makes me worse off than you :)

    It’s bloody hard coping with life sometimes. I mean, really, it is. I know. Sometimes, there is something within you that keeps things from happenning, that prevents you from taking full advantage of your strengths. If you think that this is indeed the case then you dig a bit, find probable suspects, and force them to confess. Sometimes you can’t do it by yourself and you need someone to give you a helping hand. You give it a shot. Of course, even if you don’t have anything really big blocking the way, life may still not give you what you want. In which case you just do what they say:

    Two tears in a bucket, motherfuck it.

    And you carry on.

  52. your cartoons never fail to make me smile and be very, very thankful that i no longer have to navigate the dating scene – may that very soon be true for you. sorry that you are sad.

  53. I thoguht about what Jippus wrote.

    Well, i dont live on this planet as long as you do. Therefore I didnt came around much and I dont know how to find the right words to describe what i want to tell you. English is not my motherlanguage and online dictionaries dont tell more profound meanings.

    I think the fact that you are drawing thoose comics would justify(?) a lot of sadness and suffering.
    Maybe even death or something real terrible (without backstabbing yourself) if you would not live where you live.
    Or Today.
    I would never ask you “what do you live for?”.
    I think I can see it, you know?
    I only have raw ideas about the live you walk through.

    But, because of the fact that it was so hard for me to get those insights?/views?/opinions? wich I need to understand the part of your art i like most.

    I’m happy for you because you live in a country where you may/can/should express yourself in this way.
    Maybe it’s the time, though!
    And Im even more happy for you because at least I think that it has to be a great feeling to have something that you do what
    a) lasts when you die
    b) making humans happy
    c) builds solidarity

    I wonder how your life is because you make so many people happy, and they know you do.
    Go on!

  54. I wont write a lot like all them up here.
    I just want to tell you that you rock mate, i love your cartoon and the way that you make it remind us of old things and you should be proud of that. Oh and that you dont make corny stuff on it look stupid, just funny.

  55. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness

    … have found that about 50% of one’s happiness depends on one’s genes, based on studying identical twins, whose happiness is 50% correlated even when growing up in different houses.[5] About 10% to 15% is a result of various measurable life circumstances variables, such as socioeconomic status, marital status, health, income, sex[6] and others. The remaining 40% is a combination of unknown factors and the results of actions that individuals deliberately engage in to become happier. These actions may vary between persons; extroverts, for example, may benefit from placing themselves in situations involving large amounts of human interaction. Also, exercise has been shown to increase one’s level of momentary subjective well-being significantly.

    Also interesting links (about money and happiness):
    http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/forbes/P95294.asp
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/690806

  56. I guess when you call a distress signal there are alot of people waiting to give you a pat on the back.

    Things DO turn out better in the days to come…. :)

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