Relationships
Part 11 - “Everyone is doing the best they can for themselves at any given moment of time.”

Q: What is your first reaction to this statement?

Q: Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Let’s try following a thread to see how far we can go with this. If you say that you agree with the statement… then you are saying that everybody in the whole wide world is doing the best they can for themselves. This would include:

• you, yourself
• all of your family and friends
• people you cannot stand
• people who have done the weirdest things
• the person who says they can’t be bothered with anything anymore
• the person who makes the same mistakes over and over again
• the person who is constantly in and out of prison
• the person(s) who harmed you
• people with addictions and disorders
• the person who took their own life
• rapists, abusers, powermongers, suicide bombers
• everyone

There are no exceptions to this rule: it either applies to everyone, or no one. Maybe it even applies to animals and plants. Everyone is doing the best they can for themselves, despite:

• the lousy cards they were dealt
• the dire situation that they find themselves in
• their own fears
• a lack of learning
• a dearth of opportunities
• their traumatic life experiences
• their illness
• their distorted thought processes
• the hurt and pain they are suffering

Now let’s try following another thread to see how far we go. If you say that you disagree with the statement… then you are saying that people can sometimes do bad things to themselves on purpose. That they may:

• sabotage their own hopes and dreams
• actively harm and injure themselves
• try to end their own life
• do things for other people rather than themselves
• stop looking after themselves
• lead a miserable life – on purpose
• destroy everything that was good about themselves, just like that, in the bat of an eyelid

There are no exceptions to this rule: it either applies to everyone, or no one. Maybe it even applies to animals and plants. No-one is doing the best they can for themselves all the time, because of:

• the lousy cards they were dealt
• the dire situation that they find themselves in
• their own fears
• a lack of learning
• a dearth of opportunities
• their traumatic life experiences
• their illness
• their distorted thought processes
• the hurt and pain they are suffering

Do you have any personal experience to add to this debate? If so, maybe you can attempt to answer the following questions:

Q: Do you have an example of overcoming adversity? If so, can you write an account of what you did?

Q: Have you done any acts of self-sabotage? If so, can you write an account of what you did? Could you also include what your motivation was for doing what you did?