Tesseracts wrote:
That's nice that you think none of that should matter, but it does. It's had an impact on my life and no amount of wishing it didn't will make that go away. It matters when you experience things which make you see yourself as somebody unlikable, hideous, and without value.
Tess, I was inclined to reply to this right away, but thought better of it.
If you had written that article, I imagine it would be very different, reflecting your own experience. My take on the article was that it was Wong writing to himself. Not necessarily obsessing, or stating a universal truth. God knows, I find myself cringing and sometimes facepalming when I think of high school awkwardness, or University idiocy. Mostly alcohol fueled.
That said-you are 27. You're still pretty young. By the time I was 30 I had already restarted my life twice over, practically from scratch. I also moved approximately seven times over five years, lost two jobs and wound up on the pogey twice, and had to completely restart my career. I'm likely to have to restart yet again in the next year or so for reasons that I cannot avoid. You're not alone, and none of what you've said makes you a failure.
I would also add that you seem to have no problem socializing with all kinds of people-albeit at arms length. That's not someone who is "without value" or "unlikable".
And no, you're hardly "hideous". Not even close.