Unsolicited Advice: Helpfully Harmful
On being an expert in everything other than my own problems
‘Outspoken’.
‘Opinionated’.
Just two of the labels I proudly owned as an identity for a long time — an ownership that only partially substituted for my lack of self-knowledge and awareness. Oh, I had an opinion, alright.
I’m not writing this to be self-deprecating.
I’m writing it because, as the last week has made more than clear, I’ll always be a work-in-progress.
That’s not a bad thing.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I conveniently forgot the fundamental reasons I acted like a reactive dick towards my ex for the first two years of our relationship and, in my forgetfulness, woefully pulled on my cloak of ‘burdensome moral whipping boy’ as I repeatedly beat the ever living shit out of myself here (and in a relatively public square that is Threads) while regressing to a place in my mind where I was actively reliving out the traumatic and oh-so-fucked-up narratives of my problematic childhood. Ooooops.
Not good.
On Thursday, I went toe-to-toe with said childhood as I faced down a Hollywood costum…