.the dark room
.haunted past
+..all cried out..+ . [12:43 AM
May 03, 2005
Lately, friends have been coming up to me, asking why I'm pushing myself so hard even before I leave. They've expressed concern that I might burn out when I get there. It was then that I realized that I was pushing myself for no reason. But I can't stop! I've this pernicious need to prove myself, to prove that I'm not too stupid for *you, that I'm not as stupid as everyone presumes, that I'm my father's daughter (funny how this came up).
No one understands this. Try as anyone may, no one can understand this. Of growing up having the world around you disappointed in you; a world where all you hear are the daily deprecations of your parents and everyone else around you. Then there's the visceral self-reproach that comes along with it. Imagine eighteen years of your life with your parents disappointed in you, yet pretending like they've accepted the sad fact of life that their daughter (supposedly the brains in the family, the extent of stupidity in my family doesn't surprise me) will never make it big. Imagine living with that your whole life!
Even if it deranges me, I will do everything I can to prove myself. If not to humor the world around me, then to palliate my need.