Dear Troy:

I am thinking that you may suffer from Self Help Overload Syndrome (SHOS, I just made up the term and acronym). You listened  to self-help audiobooks when you were walking, driving, gardening, brushing your teeth… “any time I can multi-task I would listen to self-development audiobooks.”

You wrote that you are ambitious. And “toward the end of high school I started reading self help books which their extremely big claims like ‘you can be anything’ ‘you can do anything’ ‘always be confident’ ‘if you do this you can xyz'”

These self-help books principles work in contexts, not in others. For example, “you can do anything” – not in all contexts, better not try to defy gravity- you can’t do that! . “Always be confident” confident- in the context of a sales job, showing confidence in the product, yes, but in a close relationship, appearing vulnerable when you feel vulnerable is appropriate and fosters intimacy.

I am thinking that you feel uncomfortable in those contexts where the Self Help books principles do not work.

anita