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‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’

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This post originally appeared on The Cut in November of 2018, when I was right in the middle of an epic battle with shame. At the time, I felt pretty sure that battle would never end. I figured that all I could really do was notice it and treat like bad weather: inevitable but tolerable. Four years later, I’m happy to report that shame *does* slowly fade away the more you relentlessly notice it, study it, question it, and sometimes kick it violently to the curb so you can proceed through life with courage and conviction. I felt much older and more embarrassing in 2018 than I do now, in part because I refuse to let knee-jerk self-hatred, second-guessing, and neurotic over-analysis slow me down. Slowly chipping away at my shame has made me happier than pretty much anything else I’ve ever done for my emotional health. That’s probably true because I’m both naturally anxious, an overthinker, and a big show-off, so shame really clogs up my gears in ways that shut me down in all of the areas

‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’ When you live inside your shame, everything you see is inadequate and embarrassing. Heather Havrilesky Jul 14, 2022 176 7 6 Share Black Hills with Cedar (1941) Georgia O’Keeffe This post originally appeared on The Cut in November of 2018, when I was right in the middle of an epic battle with shame. At the time, I felt pretty sure that battle would never end. I figured that all I could really do was notice it and treat like bad weather: inevitable but tolerable. Four years later, I’m happy to report that shame *does* slowly fade a

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