I've been active in women's prison ministry since 2009. It is entirely possible to rebuild your reputation and even thrive after ruining your reputation by the worst thing you've ever done. I've seen it with my own eyes many times. It is only possible through God.
there’s a great relief in flesh-ghost-dom. the thing we all dread has already happened. it did what it was meant to do — create medusa-inspired images of you and chain the future self forever in martyred shackles.
and now the anticipation is over, right? we can go back to devouring the black mirrors in a kind of peace others don’t get. those who still shape themselves to anticipate and abate the same fate. they don’t know that peace.
The previous self was one side of you, what you are after the nasty event is another side, and you must convince the community that these 2 sides can be integrated in a coherent way (after you get your punishment and you repent, and after a while). I guess you have no other choice. Your "new&updated" personal brand would be "the one who survived cancer and healed" and not "the nice guy next door". Or you ca emigrate to a place where nobody knows your previous brand.
So in a way a reputation burning is freeing in that it creates a sort of "at least it can't get any worse than this" feeling. I have to wonder if anyone is addicted to that infamy and attention that comes from the drama that surrounds these events, and if it does get worse. An addiction being way less freeing. It seems possible to me, at least.
Secondly, just an observation. This almost seems like the inverse of the sometimes more frequently recognized pressure of "peaking". Where you live in the shadow not of the awful things you've done, but rather of the best thing you have done. It could also be an interesting route to go down and compare/contrast to destroying your image.
I've been active in women's prison ministry since 2009. It is entirely possible to rebuild your reputation and even thrive after ruining your reputation by the worst thing you've ever done. I've seen it with my own eyes many times. It is only possible through God.
there’s a great relief in flesh-ghost-dom. the thing we all dread has already happened. it did what it was meant to do — create medusa-inspired images of you and chain the future self forever in martyred shackles.
and now the anticipation is over, right? we can go back to devouring the black mirrors in a kind of peace others don’t get. those who still shape themselves to anticipate and abate the same fate. they don’t know that peace.
The previous self was one side of you, what you are after the nasty event is another side, and you must convince the community that these 2 sides can be integrated in a coherent way (after you get your punishment and you repent, and after a while). I guess you have no other choice. Your "new&updated" personal brand would be "the one who survived cancer and healed" and not "the nice guy next door". Or you ca emigrate to a place where nobody knows your previous brand.
So in a way a reputation burning is freeing in that it creates a sort of "at least it can't get any worse than this" feeling. I have to wonder if anyone is addicted to that infamy and attention that comes from the drama that surrounds these events, and if it does get worse. An addiction being way less freeing. It seems possible to me, at least.
Secondly, just an observation. This almost seems like the inverse of the sometimes more frequently recognized pressure of "peaking". Where you live in the shadow not of the awful things you've done, but rather of the best thing you have done. It could also be an interesting route to go down and compare/contrast to destroying your image.