Unsettling Parallel Thinking (C?D Promo)

(DISCLAIMER: The following transcript was pulled from a recorded Skype call therapy session by an unnamed Wrestleworld higher up upon the mention of a surveillance triggering keyword.  Upon further investigation by Wrestleworld Architects, the conversation was deemed non-threatening by the vast majority, yet fell into public record after scrutiny.  The voices of the recorded have been altered upon requests to uphold Hippocratic oath standards of patient-doctor confidentiality.)


Therapist: Hello [REDACTED].  How are you feeling today?

?: Fine, I suppose.  I wouldn't say things are going poorly.  Maybe my situation has even improved since we've last spoken.

Therapist: How do you feel about your career standing?

?: Content would be a word I'd apply to my current situation.  Then again, I've tried to look on the bright side of things lately.

Therapist: You aren't under any pressure to impress or entertain anyone in the here and now.  Feel free to let your mask slip a little.

?: ...mask?

Therapist: Metaphorically speaking, of course.

?: Right, right.  I suppose I don't really know where my true feelings end and the shining role model and leader of tomorrow I try to portray begins.

Therapist: Who says either's not the real you? We're all often haunted in our self-awareness, trying to split ourselves between the personality we show the world and the internal voice we hear and identify as being.  I say we're both.

?: I guess I just don't want the burden of letting anyone down.  In a way, it's been thrust upon me.  There are so many people across this ocean counting on me to represent them and be a driving force and vox populi of our little portion of the globe.  I feel as if I represent so many all at once.  My failure is their failure.  My success is theirs.  I can't waiver, I can't falter, and I can't let anyone forget where I'm coming from if I ever plan on going back to my people and looking them in the eye as a-

Therapist: A hero? A leader? A conduit of change?

?: -as a success story.  Don't get me wrong; I'd love to bring some much deserved accolades and attention to my neck of the woods, but  I'd also love to inspire others to...I don't know...get out in the world with the knowledge that they can say who they are and what they represent without being raked over coals.

Therapist: Do you think you've made progress toward that goal?

?: Maybe? I keep showing up  every week and delivering the fight of my life, but somehow I feel as if no matter what I gain or lose as a competitor, I'll still be looked down upon and considered a joke by the locker room.  I mean listen to me, they've got me so brainwashed I can't even call them peers without my face turning redder than it already was when we started this call.

Therapist: There's no need to come into these sessions with the shame you carry for seeking mental healthcare.  You're not even the only person on the island receiving my services.  

?: Sorry...it's just frowned upon where I come from.  Emotion is viewed as weakness.  Seeking mental help is even more taboo.

Therapist: It's a common stigma, no need to apologize.  Are you proud of what you've accomplished thus far in Wrestleworld?

?: Yeah, are you kidding me? I've hung with and beaten people that many thought I wouldn't be able to with my style.  I've won dangerous matches that come nowhere near my level of experience or expertise.  I've excelled in so many ways, and I really hope it's made my family and the people back home proud of me.  I only wish to uplift them, after all.  We weren't always historically the type to be taken seriously.  We've had to earn respect time and time again in a wrestling industry looking to eat us alive.

Therapist: What about those who are close to you now? You've mentioned peers, but there's one that's closer to you than anyone else that you've sought approval and a closer relationship from in our past sessions.  Have things gotten better between the two of you?

?: I don't know.  Despite their persistent browbeating, I feel as if we've made progress together.  I still don't understand the level of contempt or leeriness coming from their end of the relationship.  I mean...they chose me, not the other way around.  There were other candidates that could've taken their place, people I would've easily meshed with more naturally than them who would have appreciated the television time and weekly paycheck.  Some would have probably even enjoyed being associated with me.

Therapist: Because of who you are?

?: Maybe more because of the perception of who I am.  The genetic baggage and the freak show appeal.

Therapist: You call it baggage? I'd call it being unique.

?: I honestly wish people took more time to find something more interesting about me than where I came from, what I am, or how I wrestle.

Therapist:...and yet these are the most outwardly distinguishing things about you.  This is what I was talking about earlier: coming to terms with who you think you are and how the world perceives you and realizing that they're one in the same.  Maybe you are tenacious and wish to lift up 'your people' as you put it, but you also have to outwardly put forth the effort to shed the vestiages of these self-proclaimed albatrosses hanging around your neck .  You come from a place where rebellion is a way of life and pride is a part of your genetics.  While there's plenty of negative attached to that, maybe try to embrace the spirit of it without possessing the entire wicked vessel.  At the least acknowledge the albatross is present instead of looking like a mad person ignoring the bird hanging from their neck.

?: But it doesn't represent me.

Therapist: To you it doesn't, but maybe when people see you they associate you with it based purely on where you've come from.

?: Maybe...I'll work on that.

Therapist: Who knows? maybe that's the wall blocking communication in your current professional relationship.

?: Well there's that and an unwanted third party...

Therapist: Oh? Do you feel threatened by the presence of this 'other' that's getting preferential treatment and attention?

?: If it weren't so blatant then maybe I wouldn't, but as things stand I can't help but feel like a third wheel.  I tried ignoring it, but this...this woman keeps popping up.

Therapist: A former colleague? maybe a romantic partner?

?: I'm not certain.  All I know is that they're trying to drive a wedge between something that's purely professional to begin with.

Therapist: That isn't exactly true, is it?

?: What? Ohoh, you mean...Look, I don't have any romantic feelings towards-

Therapist: That's not entirely what I was implying, but it is interesting that your mind immediately goes there.  I only meant that you're seeking friendship and maybe even direction.  It's obvious, and that's okay.

?: I have made attempts to create a rapport between the two of us with humor and even a little playful gibing, but I don't know...maybe I'm forcing it?  They haven't seemed receptive.  They seem insulted or angry most of the time, and that's when they bother to be receptive to my attempts at all.

Therapist: Maybe hazing is their love language.  You once believed that they pushed you to test your mettle.  Are you still under that impression?

?: I don't know...it's hard to know what's tough love and what's punishment anymore.  They both felt like torture to begin with.  I feel like they expect so little of me that they have to correct or chastise my every action.  Maybe it's all in my head though, right? Maybe I'm being neurotic for no reason.  Maybe I'm fabricating this problem into existence by assuming there is one to begin with.  We've been so successful as a team so far, and like I said; they chose me...you must think I'm a wacko.

Therapist:  Wacko is a dismissive term that I wouldn't even apply to...oh...let's hypothetically say sentient crab men or fatalist fourth generation girls who try to hide behind the facade of southern hospitality and optimism...but you didn't hear about that from me...

?: Wow.  Your clientele certainly runs the weirdo gamut.  

Therapist: Taking on wrestlers is like that...but let's zero in on your problem.  It's clear to me that you simply need to come out of your shell and be comfortable in your own skin.  If people don't want to be a part of what you're putting out there and wish to delve no further than their first impression of you, consider it their loss.  You strike me as being a bright, young, and talented athlete.  You're probably so distracted by your own angst that you don't notice others feeling the same level of pressure about approaching you.  However, these desperate attempts for affection and approval will only drive people away.  Wow, I could really apply this line of analysis to you and the other client.  You don't need to force cheesy, overbearing,  dad humor or erect elaborate game show sets in order to present value.  Who you are, who you want to be, and your drive and motivation to be both should be enough for anyone.

?: Wow...I do come off as desperate, don't I?

Therapist: It's okay.  Everyone does it on a certain level.  It's how we break past the barrier of a first impression, but there's no need to feel so threatened by the idea of someone disliking you that you feel the need to kidnap Betty White or let guilt drive you to pay off some old academic rival's tuition with a purloined scholarship money.

?: Yeah...stepping outside of myself, I see how that could be viewed as rash.

Therapist: I mean, it's downright criminal but you can make up for it.

?: How? Jail time?

Therapist: Hah.  I just pictured you in pinstripes behind iron bars.  It's a pretty funny mental image...

?: I can feel my face turning redder...

Therapist: Sorry, sorry.  If anything, that just drives the point home that you don't belong in that situation.  You're not a criminal.  Not-so-deep down there's a good person underneath this personality you wish to present to the world.  Are you misguided? yeah.  Are you afraid to be viewed as a flawed human? absolutely, but who isn't?  Live with your scars.  Bear them proudly.  If anything, this will attract more support from the fans and those around you then trying to cover up your mistakes with a hard shell-like exterior.

?: I'm trying.

Therapist: I can tell.  You have the instincts of a born leader, now all you have to do is develop a tough exoskeleton and accept the judgment and critique of the fans and the locker room.  In the end, all of them are your peers and you have just as much to learn from them as they do from you.

?: Thanks.  This really helped put some things in perspective.

Therapist: Would you mind if I shared some of these talking points in my session with the previously alluded to other client? I know you probably think your lives are apples and oranges because one of you is a homespun hero and the other's a fish man, but there are so many parallels I can draw between the two of you.  It'd be a shame to impart this wisdom to only one of you.

?: Sure...just don't bring me up in their session, okay? They seem a bit clingy, and while I may be desperate for peer approval IIII don't think the two of us would hit it off or grow on a healthy emotional level by forming a loser's club.  Even I'm not that desperate.

Therapist: Wow...okay.

?: I know it's harsh, but I mean...

Therapist: No, no.  I get it.  It's just funny because the only reason I drew the parallels between the two of you to begin with  is because they naturally brought you up in their session and shared the same opinion of you that you seem to have for them.

?: WHAT!?!

Therapist: Oh dear...I'm not doing very well with the whole doctor-patient confidentiality thing.  If I keep this up I'll probably find myself locked up in a dungeon for spilling Claudia Michaels secrets...

?: Let me run into that ingrate at War of the Worlds, I'll give them a-wait...Did you say you talk to Claudia Mi-

Therapist: -I gotta go!

?:  Nononono, you gotta spill the frijoles doc.  

Therapist: Look at the time.

?: I just want to kno-

Therapist: Our session is up! Talk to you next week.