We left off with a question: What went wrong?
I’m almost embarrassed. Because looking back – how could I have been so stupid?
That answer is embedded within years of therapy.
Analysis:
I was, if you read the article, “full of myself”. I was over confident and under funded. Which my psych girl has observed and suggested to me twenty-some years past STORIES, is still cause for my undoing.
Projection
is an ego defense mechanism. I thought then (2001) that all was needed to “fix” things was information. Which I would provide via my bookstore. In other words, the bookstore was about me.
And so I built a bookstore that was all about me and my ideas.
The “community” was complicated (and probably still is). Some “liked”, even loved STORIES. However, many didn’t even know, or care, about books, bookstores, community or camaraderie.
I projected my values on everyone else. I thought – if only they knew what I know …
My arrogance
is evidenced by my intransigence.
Despite thousands of dollars spent on psychoanalysis – I still believe I am, and was right.
The Independant
thinker/bookseller is under assault.
Now more than ever.