i’m supposed to ask you about giving encouragement to people. like how you do it, i guess.

it’s easy. this is a dumb question, i know you know the answer.

yeah, but i think we just talk it through, and just in talking about it we can find insight. i know you know that.

yeah yeah. i mean, i just listen to what they say and hear their anxieties, and i can see that some of the things they’re thinking are not useful or incorrect, and i try to think of how i can suggest different ways to see the situation, or i just try to explain to them how i don’t agree with their interpretation of the situation and why i think they’re mistaken.

THAT MAKES SENSE.

ikr?

so i guess the question then is why you can’t do that for yourself? or why i can’t do it for myself.

do you listen and hear your own anxieties?

motherfucker, please.

do you recognize that some of the things you are thinking are not useful or incorrect?

the thoughts cross my mind, but i don’t ‘recognize’ them.

because they aren’t your regular thoughts, so you’re not used to them? or because they aren’t logical?

you are such an asshole right now. because when i consider them, they do seem like, logically, plausible, but they don’t feel like the real explanation. in my mind, they don’t have the ring of truth in the way that the more negative thoughts do.

why don’t they have the ‘ring of truth’? you seem to suggest that, when you give encouragement to others, you feel that you’re pointing out where their thoughts are ‘mistaken,’ that you’re helping them see the truth.

the truth i see. a more positive truth.

and you say that you consider these more positive thoughts for yourself, right? these alternate explanations.

YUP.

why is it different, then? you believe you’re very convincing when you give support and encouragement to others, so-

i don’t know, but i hope so.

yah, so why can’t you be this convincing for yourself? what’s the difference?

fuck your mother.

okay.

the difference is that, when i give encouragement to others, it’s the truth. it’s the truth i see, anyway. i believe what i’m saying, so it’s easy to be convincing. when i talk to myself, i know it’s a lie. i can’t lie to myself.

bro, that’s a lie.

okay, yeah. i can’t lie to myself about that.

why is it a lie?

…

because i suck worse than anyone. so bad i can’t lie about it. i’m exceptional.

this is really good stuff.

do you think?

i’m not sure. seems generic, actually. we could ask Herself?

don’t look at me, i’m not part of this. i need to protect my personal time.

sorry.

sorry.