Knowledge

"knowledge is power." I don't remember who said that, but it can't always be that simple. Knowledge can also be painful, when you realize that the things your doing are hurtful to you. I'm not thinking about substance abuse, those people don't register that it hurts them. I'm talking psychological defense mechanisms. You fall into their trap when you're very young, and they are the only way to survive most of the time. It's so easy to get into them, but it takes someone else to help you break them. They become second nature, and you begin to anticipate the need for them because it's how life seems to work. When that happens you start poisoning any relationship you have with other people, and you realize that your defense mechanism doesn't actually work, but you keep coming to it time and again because it's the only way that you know.