Self directed help
Do you really want to fix what ails you?
Do you feel that you need to get your shit together?
Are you a bum magnet?
Do you feel like you're an easy mark, that you have 'Fuck Me Over - I'm Easy' stamped on your forehead?
Are you lonely because you're alone or because you're a ravaging asshole who alienates everyone you meet?
Do people make fun of you with indiscretion, to your face...or do you suspect they are laughing at you behind your back?
Do you have any fucking friends of either gender who you actually give a shit about and who care a smidgen about you?
Do you repeatedly seem to choose the absolute worst type of person to attempt to establish a long term relationship with?
Are you a sex addict, drug addict, adrenalin addict... what is your major malfunction?
Nobody is a born asshole anymore than anyone is born a super salesman, super CEO or super erotic story author.
Perhaps you need to visit a professional, a psychologist or group of them. Psychiatrists prescribe medications which you may require to actually fit into society comfortably like the rest of us self-medicated whackjobs.
You may really need a group of professionals to break you into a zillion pieces and then help you put yourself back together again. Personality rehabilitation.
Then after that intensive process (which may require a few weeks to many weeks) you may find you require additional after-care...some people choose group therapy... some people choose wine, some marijuana, and some...P90x.
Some people choose self-help books.
That is the route I chose for myself in 1997-1998. I checked myself into rehab for cocaine-abuse, but what I really had was a fucked up beyond repair personality (some would say... Dude, you still have that - you fucktard!) So I slipped back a bit, eat me.
Back in the late 1990s, 'Dr. John Gray' had sold over 12 million copies of his tome - Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus
I thought it was a stupid book title, and since I'm a fan of George Carlin (the late comedian) I preferred his comment: Men are from Earth, Women are from Earth. Deal with it.
So I never bought and read that dreck of self professed Doctor Gray. Of course, it may have resonated for some people.
Instead, I chose to read a couple of books from what turns out was his 1st wife 'Dr. Barbara DeAngelis'.
At the time, Google was still in development and what search engines were available on the internet, while somewhat functional...they missed a lot of webpages - or you wouldn't find what you were looking for because your search criteria was rather narrow and exacting. I didn't know that Dr (ahem) DeAngelis was married to Dr. Gray and that neither of them was actually a doctor of psychology as they were claiming.
But then to me, it did not matter. Two of her books seemed to help me further break the pattern of choosing the same and wrong life partner.
Now the fact that I'm still a bachelor, living alone for the most part (since 1996) would seem to indicate that her advice was total bullshit.
But at least I haven't slashed off any more appendages by playing with similar brands of chainsaws. So, I broke the old pattern without really establishing a new, more successful one. I'm half way to success and it has only required 16 years!
Of course, now I'm 53 years old, broken down, penniless and a Lushie. I choose to see my glass as half full, and life is fun. I'm alone but I'm not lonely. I like most everyone and I reserve love for special friends.
All thanks to the phony Doctor Barbara DeAngelis and her two books:
Are You the One for Me?: Knowing Who's Right and Avoiding Who's Wrong
Secrets About Men Every Woman Should Know - Hey, I figured I needed to know what women were thinking about scoundrels like me, and at least it gave me a leg over on my competition (the rest of you male jerks). Considering she's a four time divorcee, she does have vast experience!
In this thread, if anyone has the nerve or inclination... perhaps you dear reader would like to toss in your two cents and list a few self-help books you may have leaned on for advice, confirmation and guidance.
Shit books are welcome too (there are probably hundreds more of those). I hope to acquire a new library of really interesting subjects, quack authors and possibly some fetish tactics.
Commence at your leisure