When you read or hear a sentence that starts with “Most people are” or “People are” you assume the author is talking about other people if it proceeds with any kind of negative behavior. You don’t internalize it. That’s not your first instinct. You don’t like thinking about it that way because it’s not comfortable. You like things being a certain way because it’s pleasant and easier to go about. So, the first question is “Why should you try to see your dark side?”. Well, if you see it, then you might have a little bit more clarity, and by being realistic, you might find yourself in a position to make life a little bit better. That’s a good thing.

When we’re asked a question about what we want to do with our lives, one of the common answers we people give is we want to help other people, in some way. That’s good but more often than not, it might be misleading, especially when we’re young and relatively inexperienced. You don’t start with helping people. Because the chances of you being the toxic/broken/incomplete one are higher than you being the educator at first. Trying to help people before you’ve walked the walk will backfire, and for a good reason. You need a better perspective. You need to see things in a new light. And human beings are never perfect. There’s always some room for improvement.

Once you’ve identified the dark side of yourself, then you can come up with strategies that do as little damage as possible. Once you’ve done the work, then you can share your experiences with other people. Then you can be of some help to other people. So, at least think of the things you’ve done wrong/bad/harmful/immoral along with thinking of so-and-so’s wrongdoing.