Tom Daley

You're not hitting on me.

We'll pretend that's not what you're doing.  Denial has its uses.

All I'm saying is that eventually you'll have to depend on what's in your brain to guide you through life.  Everyone needs emotional support from other people, but that's not the same thing.

That could be what you haven't had for your sport, if you don't mind my saying so.  The ballast that nothing disrupts.

People who are already abusing me like to add to their abuse by trying to upset me and then laughing when they succeed.  Then they exploit my "emotional instability" to excuse ignoring my protests about the abuse.  It goes on and on.  Never, in this near-decade of psychological abuse, have I had a sip of an alcoholic beverage.  I wasn't a drinker before, and I'm not now.  No drugs, either, other than non-narcotic prescriptions to prevent me from having a nervous breakdown during the conglomerate's onslaught. My body now seems to have some side effects from them that might be permanent, unfortunately.  No smoking.  If I have a tendency toward food that isn't conducive to turning me into an elite athlete, it hasn't actually made me fat yet.

I'm not given credit for what I don't do in response to stress, despite all of the stereotypes about homeless people.  Nobody has to tell me which lines not to cross in the times of the most extreme stress.  I don't even need role models for those decisions.  That's what maturity is.

I know you don't have the bad habits that I have just mentioned.  Avoidance of them is not the only thing that I do to advance.  There are other decisions that I make every day for which I am also given no credit by my abusers.  They're just a bunch of hecklers who want to excuse themselves for all of the obstacles that they have put in my way.


Also, children aren't highly intelligent pets.  You now have the responsibility of being a good parent for the rest of your life.  That's not about winning medals.