You're Not a Special Snowflake

Been forever since I've been on here...in the last years, I've taken somewhat of a beating.

But it's great, because I learned something...nothing is owed to me. I AM NOT A SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE (until I make myself into one)!

I wrote this earlier, and I was struck how it came out. It seemed unlike me:

You are not a special snowflake. Your genes and your environment have shaped you into a somewhat predictable machine. You can learn to change, however, and it is in your best interest to do so.

Since you are pretty much the same as every other swinging dick on this planet, you must stay ahead of the curve. You should get it into your thick skull that you are in competition, even though it just seems like you go to work every day, and go home and "compete" at video games at night. The more you avert your eyes to the world, the more things happen in the shadows. Any one of those hidden things can be your doom.

Why all of the soothsaying, when this is a book about confidence and being shy? Because I will hope that this attitude will instill in you some necessity. When you realize that your shyness is taking away from your opportunity, and makes your life harder, you understand that all failure is your own.

Take for example the Santa Barbara shootings, at the beginning of 2014. This guy was attending a prestigous school in California. His father had a career in Hollywood, so there was plenty of money. He was pissed off that he wasn't getting laid, and made the decision to be the "alpha male". He knifed his 3 male roommates to death, then set out on the streets in his BMW, and ended up shooting 3 women to death before running from the police and eventually shooting himself.

Although his financial situation and education were taken care of, he was still in direct competition with the "brutes" that were banging all of his would-be conquests. You see, he took his situation for granted, and saw no need to change himself – it must be the world that's fucked up, so he went on his rampage. Instead of taking responsibility for himself, and maybe going on one of the millions of pick-up artist websites to learn how to be a "brute", he might have been able to escape death before loss of virginity.

If you understand that all of the time you lose by not talking to people, forming relationships, socializing, and going out is all your fault, then it might kickstart you into actually getting something done about it.