How to Survive Yourself

We do a lot of things that make our problems worse.

Conrado

The world’s out to get you. But so are you. The problem is that most of us don’t know it. Our instincts can stab us in the back. Like right now, I want to send angry emails to five different people and quit my job with a soapbox polemic. They deserve to know what I think about them. And I’m right. I’m always right. The people I don’t like are idiots.

Except I’m not going to send those emails.

I’m not even going to write them, at least not in a live browser. Tried that. Accidentally sent said angry email. Mistake.

And I’m going to remove the soap box and bullhorn from my Amazon cart. Fine, and I’ll shred the photocopies of my ass.

We do way more than send impulsive emails, and it undermines our long term goals. We worry about things we can’t control, nonstop. Some of us self-medicate in ways that make our problems worse.

We lash out at people who didn’t cause our problems, and can’t fix them. We do this to our closest allies — our friends, husbands, wives, and even our kids. Other times, we give up on ourselves too soon.

Or we bitch, to anyone who will listen. Sometimes for hours.