> We need to be kinder to ourselves. Everyone else needs to be kinder to themselves. I, on the other hand, am a worthless piece of shit who deserves no kindnes

> We need to be kinder to ourselves. Everyone else needs to be kinder to themselves. I, on the other hand, am a worthless piece of shit who deserves no kindness. Resolving that obvious hypocrisy would require me to accept that I'm "not special"; see, singling myself out as the sole human being who deserves to hate themselves keeps me in a special category. You already mentioned the real problem: > identity Yup, there it is. "Part of my identity" and "not part of my identity" are stupid and useless characterizations that we all, me included, cling to desperately. It's extremely freeing to give up parts of your own identity. I try, but it's hard. It feels like death ... but then if it works, it feels like a rebirth. Hating myself is one of the hardest parts of my identity to give up. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to. But let's all agree to ruthlessly murder those awful "I'm just not good at math" parts of our identities, and help everyone else murder their own. It's such an easy virus to catch, and so damaging.