You’re wrong, I’ve changed. I’m not like the other selfish broken addicts who didn’t give a fuck who they hurt. I’m clean. It’s amazing to give up all of my favorite coping substances and be a real person now who deals with my problems without leaning on drugs.
Of course I lean on people all the time, but that’s different. We’re supposed to lean on one another.
Stop judging me. The past is in the past. I’m changed from a dependent weak destructive asshole into a real complete person. I know I’m a real person because I look and talk like one. I have a degree. I have a wife and a house. Someone who wasn’t real wouldn’t have those things, wouldn’t be respected and wouldn’t be successful like I am.
Real people are selfish sometimes. It’s just part of being real. I’m not more selfish than anybody else. I’m less selfish than most. Nobody is perfect, not even the goody two shoes people who were smart enough to never become drug addicts. They don’t get to judge me just because addicts like I used to be fucked them over a million times and they had to cope with my abuse while being absolutely fucking sober. Please stop looking at me like that. I wasn’t there. I didn’t abuse you. I’m not your ex or that other addict or all of the other ones who gave zero fucks about anybody else. I’m different from them. I’m real I tell you and I’m just as good as you are.
If you meet me and you have a history of dealing with drug addicts who have been selfish and bad to you, then you might be able to tell that I used to be that. But that’s probably you being paranoid, because I’m not that now.
I’m exactly like you. Our brains which process our emotions and behaviors, are on a similar level now. I process all of my emotions without drugs, no different from you. I face all of my challenges without drugs.
I’m a good person and I can prove it by the good people who I’m around. They love me. They stick by me even through me dragging them to hell and back with my utter selfishness and unfathomable inability to predict or face the consequences of any of my choices.
I’m a therapist. I have a fancy degree and a license and I’m in a position of power over vulnerable people. My clients can trust me to make clear and respectfully-thought-out decisions about their therapy and do what’s best for them, not me.
Because I’m not a drug addict.
I’m a therapist.