Understanding of Self-Blame
I’ve been curious about the phenomenon of blaming ourselves for events that are completely out of our control. I was surprised to find an eloquent answer when reading SJ Rozan”s book “The Shanghai Moon“.
“Bill shifted on his perch, about to break in and give me a hard time for giving myself a hard time, but Alice spoke first. ‘It’s so natural,’ she sighed. ‘To blame ourselves when something terrible happens. I think it’s comforting in a way. It makes us feel there’s something we could have done if we’d been smarter, or faster, or whatever it is. Sometimes thinking we’ve failed is less frightening than admitting we were helpless.’ “