Yeah, what an awesome piece! (See, you are very good. Exceptional . . . ) I'm responding because I've been thinking lately that my parents trained me to be a narcissist. All that mattered to them was publicly visible accomplishment and prestige. They disowned me when I was accepted to a top 10 university and did not attend. I was trained to believe that everyone is always in competition: I was always being judged; I had to lie and cover all the time to protect my/their image; and that success was my value. I reacted by defensively thinking I was better than everyone and that everything worth doing was for show.

Thanks for this piece. Self-awareness is good medicine. Yeah!