necessary
â¢Â Know youâve done your best, regardless of result
â¢Â Take pride in your ability to work with what youâve got
Hereâs what you can do:
â¢Â Test yourself, or get tested by a neuropsychologist, on information-processing problems, and give yourself a Myers-Briggs test to gain a feel for your permanent personality traits and the strengths and weaknesses that go with them
â¢Â Get help from whatever teachers and coaches are most positive about you and have the best tricks for helping you perform better
â¢Â Avoid friends who understand you but nevertheless overreact to your fuckups because theyâre too much like you, and embrace friends who, even if they donât understand your fuckups, arenât terribly bothered by them
â¢Â Try medication if nonmedical methods arenât enough
â¢Â Find a spouse whoâs good at doing your taxes
Your Script
Dear [Me/Family Member/Guy Iâve Disappointed, Let Down, or Royally Screwed],
I know you feel Iâve [fucked up/dropped the ball/ignored my deadline/deserve my trial date and possible jail time]. Let me assure you, however, that nothing is more important to me than [doing a good job/keeping my commitments/not disappointing you/staying off MSNBCâs Lockup ] and that I am now doing my best to [figure out what happened/make amends if possible/never screw up this bad again]. I know that one reason for the problem is that I cannot [insert basic skill, like time-telling or direction-following], but Iâm aware of that weakness and have developed systems for preventing it from interfering with the job. I will learn from this experience and continue to try to fulfill my commitments. [Insert long, sincere string of apologetic words, followed by silent prayer.]
Curing Yourself of Addiction
No matter how much evidence accumulates that our potential for addictions of all kinds (controlled substances, sex, edible substances, Internet, horrible people) owes more to causes we donât control, like our genes, than those we do, we continue to experience addictions as moral failures and respond accordingly. Usually, that response means hiding the addiction and condemning others who have itâat least if youâre in politics.
We donât control the genetic factors that make some people more vulnerable than others to chemical dependence, or the ADD that makes some people more impulsive, or the childhood experiences that make us yearn for bad relationships and avoid the unfamiliarity of good ones. Itâs just easier to act like we do so we have someone to blame, instead of admitting weâre all helpless specks in the universe.
Once you can accept that life, in fact, sucks, and the tons of badstuff to be born and/or stuck with is distributed unevenly, unfairly, and undeservedly, recovery from addiction becomes much less impossible.
In other words, getting unaddicted, or even just less addicted, does not begin with self-criticism, punishment, or hoping that urges to do bad things will ever go away, but with acceptance of the fact that theyâre there, you need all your strength to deal with them, and you canât waste it on self-blame, false hope, or despair and self-pity.
Some people believe your best opportunity for change comes after an addiction causes you to âhit bottomâ and lose everything you value. The trouble is, thereâs a vicious cycle to addiction that increases your dependence on bad things as you lose your hold on what you value. The worse you feel about life and yourself, the more you think of nothing but immediate relief or pleasure. Addiction can be a bottomless pit that sucks you down harder the farther you fall, leaving you with an addiction as bottomless, and as appetizing, as a salad bowl at Olive Garden.
Some people believe that conquering addiction starts with your becoming aware of the anger and pain your addiction causes loved ones, and if