today i've been thinking: do self-help books really work? i mean, in order to help yourself, you have to be in a mindset of knowing that your self needs help...which isn't the case in most people that actually need help. people who actually need self-help books are the crazies that run amuck making other people nuts, then force them to get self-help books, but the reality is that the latter person of this instance doesn't even need help. they just need the former person in the instance to go away. for instance, when i was in high school i dated this really big d-bag. he was a total creep, and treated me like a bag of poop. once i realized that i was in a crap relationship, i dumped him, and was screwed up for years. i dated a slew of new d-bags, didn't understand what was wrong with me, had no self-confidence, blah, blah. well, what had actually happened was that his mere presence had caused me to believe that i was in need of help. i joined a support group type thing (just some other girls with problems) and after telling my story three dozen times to many many people, i had an epiphany. I was not the crazy, he was. so all of that time that i spent trying to "fix" myself was worthless, because i didn't need the fixing, he did. and i'm sure he didn't go to a support group or spend time trying to get better and not be a d-bag, because he didn't even know he was a d-bag.

the moral of the story is: let the crazies worry about fixing themselves, you're the normal one.