Never in doubt ✅
"I'm allergic to alcohol. When I drink it I break out in handcuffs."
—Alcoholics Anonymous
> late to the resistance | truthiness
When facts are scarce for human beings, we fill the information gaps with truthinesses and media effects and subjective family values and social norms.
We assume our truths as we "see" them are everyone else's truths, too.
- We're often wrong but never in doubt.
We automatically (meaning unconsciously) jump to conclusions with the thinnest of evidence.
Wild assumptions and generalizations strike us like lightning, and we treat them in response like certainties. ⚡⛈️
We do so not to reveal the truth to ourselves or even make ourselves happier. We do this so we can act fast to survive as we make decisions each day.
So you'd be forgiven if you (automatically) assumed, as many people do, that alcoholism and tardiness naturally correlate with laziness.
The truth is that like alcoholism and everything else, there's a psychology and science to lateness.
Chronically late people like me "see" or perceive time differently than others. We assume tasks will take less time than they really do. We may even be trying to avoid anxiety-inducing social interactions.
A 2001 study showed that people who were creative and reflective perceived time as moving slower than people who were competitive and ambitious.
These are things about us that are difficult to control. I wasn't merely a drunk. I relied on alcohol to relieve profound anxieties and insecurities.
- Alcohol soothed me long enough to socialize at a metal show or happy hour.
- Alcohol soothed me long enough to "feel like myself" on a date.
- Alcohol soothed me long enough to speak on conference panels.
I was functional and good at hiding the severity of my alcoholism.
Until I wasn't.
Being addicted to alcohol is everything but a sober pursuit of the truth.
- next time "We don't use our powerful reasoning abilities."
- listening Amon Amarth "Cry of the Black Birds"
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