Beauty is only skin deep.
But ugliness? Yikes!
Many of us work hard on our external appearance yet some of our behaviors are ugly and embarrassing. Why is this?
Psychiatry assumes there is a deep problem with you. Bipolar. Depression. PTSD. Borderline. Psychosis. Narcissism.
There is something backwards or circular in this logic. If you describe your experiences to an expert — sadness, lack of energy, loss of motivation, fear, worry, lack of patience, high expectations, large mood swings, impulsivity, reliance on sweets or alcohol, wishing for death — then a label is given, a diagnosis. We then turn the label into a cause of our behavior. “It’s because of my bipolar.” My pet. I don’t go anywhere without it. This system is nonsensical. A kind of comedy. Or more like tragedy.
Your experience is real. Your suffering or sense of unmet potential is painful. In each of us there is a mixture of tendencies, habits, actions, intentions, ideas, beliefs, attractions, disgusts. And many, many frustrations. Our energy fluctuates. Our attention wanders. We make plans, we lead ourselves to water but fail to drink. We overreact to some things. Neglect others. The mirror horrifies us.
But it’s our intelligence, not depression, that tells us when further expenditure of energy will be fruitless. The answer is not stimulating your carcass into more pointless activity.
Anxiety is not a tumor, to be beaten down with medications.
Frequent misperception of threat can be corrected, not “treated.” Unless we call education a treatment for “ignorance disorder.”
Self-hatred is a philosophical and spiritual problem. Emptiness too. And so is the pursuit of fullness.
Labels, boxes, classification systems have their place. But when a human being is forced to fit into a “type” then something violent has occurred, parts were severed to please the typist.
You are a work in progress. Are you progressing? Are you stuck? I would like to hear how it is going. What is good? What is bad? What is ugly? Where do you want to reach? What do you want your biography to say? Build your tale of overcoming defeat or thinking small in your life.
