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What neurotic nerds are is humans, extra concerned with expectation errors within their head. They look not just for a stable perch, or social connection—they need a sense of right, to know whether what they are currently doing is what they should be doing.
Neurotic nerds are more internally wired. It allows for certain forms of brilliance, creativity—and it also means the biggest torment of nerds is their own heads. Normies might stress more about external situations; for nerds, the stress comes from internal expectation errors.
Where normies are fine just picking an action, neurotic nerds have a really strong expectation that the conflict shouldn’t be there, and there should be some sort of resolution. They’re so sensitive to internal expectation error they start whole Twitter communities about coercion
It’s worth not psy-op’ing these neurotic nerds [psy-op = get people to distrust their native trust mechanisms] by yelling “JUST BE” “YOU’RE THE PROBLEM” “THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SELF-COERCION.” They might temporarily feel better, but the ecological homeostasis will return.
Instead, help neurotic nerds get kind explanations. Help them treat their neurosis as coherent and valid, if a bit overactive. In particular, help them develop schemas that allow them to move even when they’re feeling a blocking feeling or conflict. https://t.co/ic3mG0Pb4X
Trial-by-fire is great, AND neurotic nerds have a natural (and important) immune system against doing things because they feel they have to. There’s nothing wrong with that. Many non-neurotic nerds spend their lives like that with no reason to complain. https://t.co/9wI5op7W9R
I want to make that option available because it’s the one I took. There were so many “faster” routes to enlightenment, social freedom, whatever it was. I felt so much pressure to take them. I had to give my own self permission not to. https://t.co/hJkGzQOHJf
newer attempt at this thread https://t.co/UwyspHeyfH