What People Like Me Get Out of Therapy

A therapist once told me that I was a fatalist.

In therapy, as in the rest of my life, I often express the viewpoint that it doesn't matter what I do, and that everything is awful, and there is nothing I can do to change the fact that everything is awful.

Now, I realize that fatalism is actually way more complicated than that. Fatalism actually seems to be related to determinism, and ideas about fate vs. free will. But the important thing, to me, is feeling/knowing that nothing you do matters.

The way I think about it is this: The optimist sees a glass of water and says that it is half full. The pessimist sees the same glass of water and says that it is half empty. And the fatalist sees that fucking glass and immediately knows that the water inside contains ground-up bits of glass.

On a Scale from 1 to Bitter: Fatalistic.
1-800-Bitterness.com Radio: The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black
1-800-Bitterness.com Reading List: Choke by Chuck Palahniuk