I just don’t get the appeal of throwing my hands up and going, “Yep, somebody needs to care more about me than I care about me.”
I don't, for the record, disagree with much OP's point, though I do have some misgivings about "food addiction" being explanation for everyone's struggle with weight (I don't think that's his point, really, but it's clearly what his experience has been and it's the focus of the piece). His approach mirrors my own (successful) approach with any of a number of challenges. I just question the effectiveness as a complete solution.
It is also possible to have enough mental fortitude to read beyond the first item in a list that you yourself wrote about an hour ago.
Yes, you can’t mental fortitude yourself out of every situation. But you can be committed to change and figure things out.
Or you can just say “Nah, I’ll let somebody else fix things for me. I’m sure I’m high on their list of priorities.”
Who is changing some of the societal conditions here? You or someone else?
You also started your comment with a list of individual excuses.
You may not have said “4” but you said “2+2” and it’s not that big of a leap to make.
It's rarely "This is really hard and I doubt I have it in me right now" or some other honest answer.
Yes, positivity is essential, and negative thinking is also a trap, but this "Believe In Yourself!" and "Follow Your Passion!" is rotten fruit from the $16 self-help bookshelf in the public library.
But no, that is not the only thing that works. If anyone despairs or believes such as this, then refer back to "cult of self" we're trapped in.
I get that you can hope someone else helps you or that circumstances change on their own.
But again while you’re sitting around waiting, shouldn’t you exhaust the options that you control?
I don’t get how trying to improve your life yourself is a “cult of self” or being portrayed as a bad thing.